Zootopia: Project Paradox
by SR2Turoka-1
Summary: In the not so distant future humanity finds itself under the tyrannical oppression of a globally reaching organization known as Vanguard. Enter one Nate Roberts a resistance fighter born in the age before Vanguard. On a mission into a research facility where things go terribly wrong Nate finds himself taken to a new world. ((Important author's note in last chapter 10-4-17.))
1. Prologue

**Zootopia: Project Paradox**

 **(A/N: Hello my fellow readers and writers, I come with a new story for you hopefully to enjoy. I know I still have two other stories I'm working on at this current point, but I wanted to get my last story I wanted to work on out there. Besides, I couldn't continue my other new story without starting this one. The two stories do happen to share a form of a common theme after all.**

 **Regardless, this story, while a human in Zootopia story, will also feature one of the more realistic ways a human has come to Zootopia in fanfiction, while at the same time retaining many sci-fi elements.**

 **Without further ado, I hope you all enjoy this new story and have a good day wherever you are.)**

 **Prologue: Oh My World, What Has Become of Thee**

 **It was a partly cloudy day in the city of Chicago on a slightly warmer than normal march day. In the city, the citizens of the city moved about on their daily lives, no deviation from what "the controller" has deemed of them. Many stuck at jobs they didn't like and living where they despised the most, the citizens of Chicago moved with a lack of energy and a lack of desire to continue the day. However, there would be no deviation from their assigned duties for fear of punishment by "the controllers", the people in fear of death and vanishing from the public eye.**

 **"The Controllers" were none other than the tyrants of the world commanding their forces of order and security. It was not, however, for the benefit of us, but for them. Every day, the citizen of the world suffered under the iron fisted control of them, undergoing random home searches, arrests on the street and assault by the forces of brutality and corruption, all in an effort to keep the population in check through fear.**

 **They were known as Vanguard. Emerging after the first half of the 21st century, Vanguard took control of the world country by country through every avenue from bribery to political assassinations. Their reach and power spread through the four corners of the world like a disease through its host. At first, they said they were here to protect us…but that was before the death squads.**

 **Every day, the citizens of the world, caught in the eternal struggle of oppression by Vanguard, were left to question the motives behind Vanguard. While the organization certainly tried its best to not let their name find its way into the public circle, this was ruined by a whistleblower in the early years of Vanguard's rise to power.**

 **Before the tyrants and despots of Vanguard took control of the world's affairs, in the last years of an era waning away like the last ember of a fire, reports were leaked that Vanguard's intention was to preserve humanity…no matter the cost. Vanguard claimed that humanity was in great danger, but the reports never claimed any actual threat.**

 **To us, these pawns of Vanguard, the soldiers and enforcers, weren't our neighbors, no matter where they lived. To us, they weren't our protectors, no matter how many crimes they stopped. They were just simply order…control…ruthlessness. Was humanity indeed in great danger, or was Vanguard the real danger here?**

 **After only a few years of their global control of every facet of life, dissenters began to rise up from the ideologies of an old world. A world based on freedom through self-direction. A world in which man was free to make decisions based on their own desires. Who to marry…where to live…where to work…**

 **Of course, not everyone rebelled against Vanguard. Fear was a weapon they used to keep the populace in check sure, but another equally effective tool was to promote loyalty to the rule of Vanguard. The tyrants gifted pampered lives and stability onto those the organization trusted, creating a separate world of luxury among the new world elite from the disparity of the new world majority. My family and I were not part of this gracious minority in this new world order. We kept our heads low and under the radar out of fear. However, there was one fateful day when that life would change…**

In the suburbs of Chicago, on this slightly unusual march day, it was unfortunately like any other day in Chicago. Vanguard Enforcers patrolled the streets, policing with an iron fist the streets of the windy city. The children in the suburbs were just coming back home from school, buses dropping them off at designated stops. A group of elementary school kids walked past a squad of Vanguard Enforcers, clad in red and grey composite armor. Having been born after the time Vanguard took over the worlds affairs, these kids thought nothing of the imposing men and women armed with high powered rifles and pistols. The kids were trained in school to never oppose Vanguard or risk bringing danger to their families. However, as these school aged children were returning home, walking down the neighborhood streets, they walked past a single story ranch house that appeared from the outside to be in disrepair. The siding was degrading and the paint chipping away from the exterior walls. Inside this house, the only occupant was currently a 13 year old boy, a boy named Nate Roberts.

Nate had stayed home from school today, a request that was made by his father. Nates father didn't tell him the reason why he wanted Nate to stay home, stating only that he was absolutely to not answer the door for anyone until he and his mother got home. Nate was currently engaged in his favorite pastime. Rather than watching the usual propaganda filled T.V. programing that Vanguard ran every day and night, Nate was engaged in reading some of the many books that his father kept hidden in his study behind a secret false wall. The boy's dad had claimed that knowledge of the old world was more important now than ever before, but it went far beyond that as a mere fact or a text. Knowledge was a power and a reminder of how far humanity has now fallen. It gave us the strength to change our future and the means to do it. Nate's dad said this is what Vanguard feared…to lose power.

The books Nate was reading were that of his favorite subject…history. A window into the past and lessons of great triumphs and fools falls.

Currently reading about ancient Rome and their political system that sought to protect its power, but also showed some effort to protect its own peoples, the ancient world of the times long forgotten fascinated Nate.

Nate was about to finish reading his current chapter, when he heard the front door open and a voice cry out, "Nate, We're home. We have company."

Nate closed the current book as he put all the treasures of knowledge back into the bottom shelf and covered it with the false wall once more. He then walked into the entry area for the house, and was greeted by the sight of his parents who were talking to a guy Nate had never met.

"Hey guys, who's this" asked Nate as he approached the three adults?

Nate's dad, Vincent Roberts, then said, "Nate this is a friend of mine from work." Vincent then looked at his son and said, "Did anyone show up when we were gone, Nate?"

The boy shook his head and said, "Nope dad. All's quiet on the home front."

Vincent smiled with relief and said, "Oh great." Vincent then looked towards his friend and said, "Al, I think its better we discuss…pressing issues sooner rather than later."

Al nodded and said, "Yes, of course Vincent."

Vincent then whispered something to his wife that Nate couldn't hear, to which Nate's mother, Samantha, then said, "I understand. Hey Nate, I need you to come with me to the ration depot. We need to pick up our weekly food rations so I can start to make dinner."

Nate sighed slightly as he was hoping to finish reading his book on ancient Rome, but he didn't want to disobey his mother and then said, "Yes, mom."

Vincent then said, "Come Al, we have much to discuss. Let's go to my study."

Al nodded and said, "Lead the way."

The two men went towards the study. Nate was thankful he thought to hide the books behind the false wall before leaving the room.

Nate and his mother then got ready and left their house to head to the ration depot only a few blocks over.

Upon leaving the house, Nate took in the world beyond the confines of his family's home. Nate was born before the time Vanguard took over and thus remembered somewhat the old world. He remembered that his parents were much happier then and kids at his age would be playing outside on a day such as today. According to the history books he's read, it was a time when all nations of the world were free to choose their own fate, rather than being guided on strings by their puppet masters of today. It was when fear and tyranny didn't unite the world, but rather governments led their own peoples and freedom, however restricted it may have been, reigned over much of the old world. Even in history, the flaws of the old world paled in comparison to the tragedies of the new.

Down the street his home was on, Nate could see the usual Vanguard patrols, although there were a few more squads out on the streets than usual. Nate treated the Vanguard squads with distrust and hatred, careful to never let it show to the soulless Enforcers who were among the lucky elite that Vanguard rewarded for their loyalty.

As Nate walked down the street, he spotted a Vanguard armored vehicle, clad in its grey paint scheme driving down the street. The Armored truck like vehicle drove slowly as if with a purpose. It stopped two houses down from Nate's residence and idled there, no activity visible from the van. Nate thought nothing of it and kept walking down the street with his mother.

About 45 minutes later, Nate and his mom were returning with a few boxes of food they acquired from the ration depot. Nate looked around him as they were a few blocks away, noticing that there weren't any visible Vanguard patrols, which was highly unusual for any day. Suddenly, Nate heard from a few blocks over several loud bangs in quick succession.

Gunshots…

The two of them jumped at the sound as Nate then said, "What was that mom?"

She looked at the direction she thought she heard it from and said with a quivering voice, "Something bad."

"Hey Nate" said a voice not of his mother. Nate looked around confused at who would be speaking to him. There was nobody out in the streets right now. Nate then heard the voice then shout, "Yo, Corporal. You okay?"

The world around Nate blacked out in a second as someone jostled him back to reality.


	2. Operation Undying Oracle

**Chapter 1: Operation Undying Oracle**

The world that Nate was just in had faded to black and he felt his eyes shoot open, slightly blinded by the uncomfortably bright lights around him on part to the fact that he had been sleeping. Nates vision was a bit blurry for a few seconds as he sat up from his slouched position in his seat with a small groan as he had a neck cramp due to the position his head was in.

"Ugh, come on Barry. Why'd you have to wake me up now? I just fell asleep" I complained to the soldier on my right clad in a sneaking suit of black material. The soldier to my right held the barrel of his ARX-160 in his right hand, the barrel pointing up to the roof of the C-130 we were in as the stock rested on the floor. In response, his left hand found its way to his cheek.

He made a mocking gesture with it and said teasingly, "Aww, did I wake sleeping beauty from his nap?"

I rolled my eyes and then mockingly laughed, "Ha Ha. Fuck you too."

Barry laughed at my remark and said, "Well, if you want to corporal…I didn't know you rolled that way."

To this, I sat up and stretched as I popped my back and said, "I don't, not with your sorry ass anyways."

Barry and I, despite what we seem like to others, were best friends and have known each other for 5 years in the rebel group "Fires of Sovereignty." Fires of Sovereignty was the most widespread and powerful of the rebel groups in the world, an organization committed to restoring liberty, peace and free-rule to all the peoples of the world. In essence, we would carry the torch of freedom through the night of tyranny and oppression and would emerging bringing the light of the values in the old world back to this dying one. I myself have been a part of Fires of Sovereignty for the last 10 years, ever since the unfortunate disaster in my life when I was 13. I was too young for most of those years for any sort of combat, but I spent those seven years in intense training and various positions in FoS to help as best as I could, however I could. Then, as fate would have it, I put my newly acquired talents to the test for the last 5 years, my training in various firearms, hand to hand combat styles, and learning to drive most land vehicles that FoS used in operations against Vanguard, lent an even bigger aid to anti-Vanguard operations.

Barry feigned a look of hurt as he put his hand to his chest and said, "Oh, that's cold Nate. Anyways, while you were napping, the pilot announced that we're five minutes out from the drop zone."

I then grabbed my rifle that was leaning next to my seat on my left and picked it up in my hands. I was assigned the SCAR-H for this operation. I tapped the eject on the side of the gun for the magazine and slid the clip out to check if it was loaded. The sight of a couple of visible 7.62mm NATO rounds met my gaze as I confirmed what I had loaded the rifle earlier back at base. I slid the mag back in, the plastic magazine clicking into position with a solid snap.

I put the gun between my legs and kept the barrel aimed at the top of the C-130 cargo hold as I leaned back against the netting cover metal wall and looked at Barry and said, "We still going in with a HALO jump?"

Barry chuckled and said, "Hell yeah Nate, should be fun. Just make sure you don't have to pick bird out of your teeth afterwards."

Then, one of my other squad members of our 5 man fire team, Rebecca, said, "Don't forget, Barry, that we are HALO jumping into a fortified enemy research facility. This ain't going to be some fun and games shit."

Barry rolled his eyes at her and said, "Yes, mom. Seriously, liven up a bit Rebecca. Live in the moment, it gets your adrenaline pumping."

Rebecca's eyes narrowed as she then pointed at Barry and said, "Watch who your addressing Lance Corporal. It's Sargent Campbell to you."

I was inwardly laughing at Barry's behavior. If there was one thing I knew Barry was it was a smartass, a caring smartass, bust still a smartass.

Soon, another voice came on over the loud speakers of the cargo hold. The speakers emitted feedback for a second or two before the voice coming in clearly. I winced at the high pitched noise the speakers emitted.

"Zulu infli. team, we are now approaching the drop coordinates. Stand by for jump in T minus 15 seconds" stated the pilot with a slight distortion over the aging loud speaker system.

I stood up from my seat and grabbed my rifle in my right hand and reached into a pocket on my vest and pulled out a suppressor for my SCAR-H. I put the suppressor on the end of the barrel and screwed it onto the barrel. My squad was doing the same thing right now as well.

The pilot then spoke again over the loud speakers and said, "Current wind speed and velocity will have your team land one mile out from the research facility."

Suddenly, we heard the whirring of hydraulics as the cargo door for the C-130 opened up as air rushed out from the plane due to a pressure drop. I felt myself almost be pulled off my feet from the action.

The darkness of night and the twinkling of stars greeted us as the inside of the plane was now bathed in eerie red light from the warning lights that signaled the plane's door was open.

The pilot started counting down, "15…14…13…12…"

Barry cracked his neck as he shouted with a whoop, "Whoo, come on. Feet first into hell guys."

One of our other squad mates, Corporal Xander said with a shout over the roaring wind, "Hey Barry, I know you're excited, but try to remember to take your safety OFF in the AO."

Barry shookmhis head and shouted, "That was one time in basic man, just let it go already."

The pilot meanwhile was still counting down, "4…3…2…1…Mark! Go! Go! Go!"

My squad ran out the open door of the plan and leapt into the high altitude air with our breathing masks already equipped and our wind blocking goggles on.

I could help myself in the rush of plummeting through the night air and let out a loud, "Whooooo!" I knew we were way too high up for any Vanguard forces to hear us. I was exceptionally grateful that FoS had a stockpile of old military equipment and weapons circulating through our organization, most of it bought from the very few black market contacts around the world that were still operating. Without our oxygen tanks and breathing masks, a jump such as this would be impossible. What we couldn't buy under the table and out of Vanguard's eye, we outright stole from Vanguard by hitting supply convoys, raiding depots, that sort of thing.

Air whipped past my body as we speed through the air. I struggled with considerable effort to move my arm past the air currents around me to reach for the side of my goggles and went to hit a small button on the side.

Suddenly, my vision changed from near pitch black to a grainy green as night vision kicked in on the goggles. I could see past various clouds speeding around us the form of a complex not too far away from where we would be landing. I could barely make out fortified walls, guard towers, lights and vehicles in the research base, on part due to the distance from it, but also due to the light from the base washing out part of my night vision.

I looked to my right and left and saw my squad still falling with me at different heights around me. I then spoke over my mic in my breathing mask, "Zulu, prepare to deploy chutes on my mark." I looked back at the ground as it was steadily approaching and started counting loudly, "3…2…1…Mark!"

I heard the zipping of fabric and the wisp of material as my squad had pulled their parachute cords and the chutes caught wind from our fall and opened up. I was the last to pull my cord as I was yanked upwards by the sudden deceleration in velocity. I grunted from the movement as each of my hands held onto a handle on the parachute so I could steer the chute for a safe landing zone in the forested area beneath us.

We scanned the area for a clearing and found a lucky break with an irregularly shaped clearing in forest where our chutes wouldn't snag on tree limbs…hopefully. We steered towards the location and touched down one by one. I hit the ground first and rolled on impact, the chute collapsing around me. I fought with the dark grey canvas material to free myself from under it and eventually succeeded, unbuckling the chute from my chest and letting it fall.

I heard thuds and fabric crinkling around me as my squad landed one by one. I kept my goggles on for the night vision, but unbuckled the breathing mask from my face and the small oxygen tank from my right hip as they handed on the ground with a thud.

My squad freed themselves from their own chutes and met up around our squad leader, Master Sargent Zhang.

We crouched down in a circle of sorts as Zhang said to us in a low enough tone to not draw attention, "Alright, all bodies are accounted for. Zulu, synchronize mission time on my mark for evac."

We all looked at our military grade watches and changed them to the timer with the time for our evac arrival already programed into them. We had only three hours to complete our operation.

Zhang then said, "3…2…1…Mark."

We hit the button that began the countdown for on our watches for our evac arrival.

Zhang then spoke, "Alright team, you know what we're here for. Our spy on the inside says that Vanguard is working on a prototype weapon system that is of substantial danger to FoS and friendly rebel operations. Our orders are to either retrieve the weapon system or destroy the weapon system before Vanguard can mass produce it. Any questions Zulu? Now's the time for it."

Zulu shook their heads no. The Master Sargent was just rehashing what command had already told us in the briefing room back at Eagle Nest.

Zhang smirked and nodded as he said, "Great Zulu. Let's get a move on, and keep your eyes open for any active patrols. This forest could be ripe with traps and ambushes."

We stood up and readied our weapons as we took the safeties off of our weapons. We took off in a slow and cautious walk towards the forest edge where the research facility would be.

I was right behind Zhang as I kept my head on a swivel for anything out of the ordinary, or rather for any form of movement. The sounds of leaves rustling in trees and insects chirping and buzzing filled our ears in almost a quiet melody, punctuated by the occasional owl hooting in the dead of night. We tried to avoid stepping on any of the more than couple handfuls of fallen twigs on the ground, afraid of noise giving our position away. I scanned the area with my night vision goggles still on, and I was grateful that I was paying attention to my surroundings.

I spoke up in a quiet tone in my throat mic and said, "Zulu, hold position. Eyes on hostile anti-personal mine ahead, 2 meters."

Zhang held up his hand in the hold signal as we crouched down.

Zhang then said to our explosives expert, Sargent Campbell, "Campbell, you're up…and be careful."

Rebecca nodded and said, "Rodger that, sir."

Rebecca treaded lightly over towards the mine dead ahead, a Mk. 4 Bouncing Betty. She stopped next to it and pulled out her bomb defusing tools she needed from a pouch on her right hip. She leaned near the bouncing betty and, with the skills of a brain surgeon and steady hands to boot, carefully pulled the detonation charge out of the top of the disc shaped explosive. We all held our breaths as she took the charge away from the mine and then took a foot of hers and stepped near the mine.

The sound of a click was heard as the disc was launched into the air. The disc flew up and then just fell back to the ground, completely inert.

Rebecca turned around and I could see in my night vision that she had a smirk of accomplishment on her face as she said, "What? Were you guys expecting the top bomb defusal expert at Eagle Nest to put her squad in actual danger doing that?"

Barry spoke up with a slight stutter, "Um…will you hate me if I say maybe?"

Rebecca shook her head and said, "Oh Barry, you need to have more faith in people." She turned back around forwards for a second before she looked behind her and said with a smirk, "Oh, and I hope you didn't piss your pants too bad."

Zhang then said with a stern and commanding voice, "Alright, cut the chatter Zulu. We got a job to do and 2 hours and 45 minutes to do it. Let's get in gear team."

We readied ourselves and continued towards the research facility, all of us now being extra cautious for any form of a trap.

Finally, after another 30 minutes, we had crept our way through the forest and made it towards the forest edge that surrounded the research facility. We ducked prone near the crest of a hill as we examined the area. Hostile Vanguard guard movement was all around the perimeter of the facility as armed soldiers and light armored vehicles both patrolled and stood guard at points along the wall. Along the wall were concrete guard towers with searchlights and machine gun nests, both scanning the surrounding fields and the forest edge. Barry looked to left and saw the light from a searchlight start sweeping towards them.

Barry then whispered loudly, "Light. Heads down."

We lowered our bodies as far into the ground as we could so as to minimize our presence. The light swept over our heads, which were the only part of us being exposed. It just continued along its search path afterwards, signaling nobody had spotted us.

We raised our heads and examined the complex from our angle. We couldn't see past the wall, but we had already been informed by command where the prototype weapon system was being held. Several multi-story buildings, some as high as 6 stories, were visible beyond the wall. A few buildings had arched roofs, while one noticeable one had a glass top to it.

That was our building…and it was near a perimeter wall. The only problem was that there was no notable weakness that we could see in the defensive wall…other than one.

On a dirt road that led up to a gate, a truck was currently stopped as it was the second of three vehicles in line waiting for entry to the base. The other two vehicles were an open top patrol vehicle similar to a jeep, while the other vehicle was an armed HUMVEE with a 50 cal. Turret.

Zhang noticed the vulnerability and immediately said, "Zulu, we're going to sneak into the base on that truck. Xander and Lopez, I want you two to find an elevated position out here where you can provide eyes on the inside of the base. The rest of you, follow my lead and be prepared to run when I say go."

Xander and Staff Sargent Lopez crawled down the hill as I heard Lopez say, "Hey, I saw an old forest lookout station on our HALO jump down, Xander. Its west of the base, follow my lead."

Xander acknowledged his statement with a, "On your six, Staff Sargent."

The rest of us slid down the other side of the hill, which was made of loose dirt and scattered rocks with short and controlled movements. We reached the bottom of the hill and crouch walked over towards the idling black truck with a canvas covering over its bed.

Zhang looked to his right and said quietly, "Spotlight! Hit the dirt Zulu."

We slowly dropped to a prone position and laid as still as possible, our bodies completely exposed now in an open area. I held my breath as I didn't even dare to give into the urge to breathe, afraid even the smallest movement would give away our position. I could only hope that our black and dark green camo sneak suits would allow us to blend in enough to the surrounding environment.

The light moved over us with a slow and careful motion. It passed over us, not stopping to double check anything suspicious.

We gave it a few seconds before we got up to a crouched positon once again and made our way towards the vehicles. We arrived at the HUMVEE first and we took cover behind the vehicle. Rebecca had her MP7 aimed out on the right side of the vehicle as she was crouched in cover, waiting preemptively if anyone were to go to walk back behind the HUMVEE on that side. Zhang looked around his side on the left and made an owl call twice into the mic. This was our Zulu's covert signal to "follow lead."

We crept along the back of the HUMVEE, turning ourselves to start walking along the left side, walking low and slowly. Zhang peered into the window of the HUMVEE cautiously to see that nobody was currently at the wheel, or in the passenger's seat. He motioned us forwards again until we were at the back of the truck. We climbed into the bed one by one and lied down on the floor, thankfully just in time as a few Vanguard soldiers came walking past the Truck, talking to each other. I saw through a gap in the canvas fabric two of them go to the back of the HUMVEE to do something, while one of them threw an ammo box into the back of the truck, hitting Barry in the shoulder with it. Barry looked like he was going to scream from the pain it inflicted on him. Thankfully, Rebecca covered his mouth with her hand as he let out a quiet, muffled scream of pain. I heard the solider that had thrown the ammo box in the truck stop in his tracks as he was walking away from the truck. I felt sweat running down my forehead, panicking that our cover had been blown.

I heard steps approaching the truck as footsteps sounded on dirt. I whispered to Barry, who I was right next to, and told him to put his gun in semi-auto. I made hand motions at Zhang to tell him what my plan was to handle the guard, quickly walking him through my plan with a sort of brief show of charades. The flaps of canvas opened up as the guard stuck his head in.

The world seemed to move miles in seconds as Barry fired a bullet into the guards head. The bullet entered his skull with a dull thwack and thankfully didn't over penetrate his brain. The guard almost fell limp to the ground, if not for me and Zhang grabbing his arms and pulling him into the back of the truck with great difficulty and speed so as to not draw any suspicion. Just as he landed in with a dull thud next to us, the two soldiers behind the HUMVEE came back around front to the cabin of the HUMVEE, one of them carrying a flashlight as he said, "Damn Central not putting spare tires in our HUMVEEs anymore. We're lucky we made it here before our tire gave out completely."

The other solider said as the two of them climbed into the cabin of the HUMVEE, "Do they expect us to push…" his voice was cut off by the doors for the HUMVEE shutting closed.

I found out that I had been holding my breath and let it out with an unsteady quivering breath as I whisper, "Oh god…oh god..."

The Truck we were in soon started up as it soon began to drive forwards through a now presumably open gate to the facility. Rebecca took advantage of the noise of the engine to grab a tarp in the back of the bed and to try to hide the dead Vanguard soldier with it. After successfully doing so, she shicpered to us with gritted teeth, "I damn near shit my pants when you three did what you did."

I responded with a sharp whisper, "As opposed to what? Letting him see us and all of us getting killed or captured, Campbell?"

She slunk her shoulders in realization that she knew I was right. It was reckless, but it had paid off greatly in the long run…we were in.

The truck made a few turns as it kept on driving along, engine droning as the back flaps of the canvas top fluttered in the air current, allowing light to shine in periodically from the inside of the well-lit base.

Finally the truck stopped and the engine shut off. We remained motionless in the bed as we waited for the driver to get out of the truck. I could only pray that the guy we killed was not part of this convoy, or our success may be quite short lived.

Eventually, we heard the sounds of the truck doors open and two people step out. The doors then shut as the guards sounded like they were walking away, talking with each other as they went.

Zhang then spoke into his throat mic quietly, "Xander, Lopez. You two in overwatch yet? We need eyes on enemy movement around us. We are in the back o…"

A voice then came in over our throat mics responding, "No need Master Sargent, we found an abandoned forest lookout and saw what you were doing. I'm not seeing any movement through the my sniper scope around you. Standby for confirmation. Over."

We waited for a few seconds for the clear, before Lopez's voice then came back and said, "No tango movement around you. If you want to get out of there, I suggest you go now. Over."

Zhang then said, "Zulu-6, where is the target bearing from us? Over."

Lopez then responded with a small hesitation as he said, "Uh, bearing from your position is Southeast of your current location. Rangefinder shows it's an estimated 13 meters from you. How copy, over?"

Zhang then said, "That's a solid copy Zulu-6. We're moving. Be ready to provide overwatch and sniper fire if compromised. Over and out."

Lopez then said, "Copy that Zulu lead. Over and out."

Zhang then whispered to us, "Alright, let's get ready to move." Zhang then pulled out a pocket compass and looked at it briefly to know the bearing ahead of time for the building.

He put the compass away and motioned us to move. We started climbing out one by one from the truck. My heart sunk when I realized where we were.

We were in a well-lit paved area next to the target building wearing black and dark green sneak suits. We were highly exposed.

Zhang looked around quickly after he noticed our situation too and finally pointed to an electronically locked door that led into the target building as he said, "Team, double time to the door at 12 o' clock."

We started a mad sprint for the door, when we heard a voice shout, "Hey, we have intruders!"

I spun around and saw a soldier that was standing by the HUMVEE from earlier, off way away from our current location. If we could hear him shouting from here, then I could only imagine how many other soldiers heard him.

I aimed my SCAR-H at the soldier and fired the weapon twice, aiming for his head. My bullets drilled into his skull, blowing his brains out and causing him to fall the ground with a surge of short convulsions for a few seconds. This caused him to fire his AN-94 into the air, causing gunshots to ring out in the base.

I heard voices then shouting all around as some soldiers started to pour out of various buildings around the facility.

My heart then sunk as I heard a loud blaring alarm sound, piercing the night air with a blaring warning.

Zhang then shouted, "Fucking hell, we're compromised. Zulu, door. NOW!"

We sprinted to the door that led into the target building. We took cover behind whatever was available, which to say wasn't much. I dropped behind a concrete road barrier as I heard shouting barely able to match the volume of the alarm in the base.

Zhang yelled to Zulu-4, our technician Corporal Vastov, "Zulu-4, get this door open on the double."

"Yes, sir" responded Vastov with a yell of his own.

He ran to the door for the building and started pulling the cover off of the electronic lock for the door as soldiers started running to our location.

Zhang then shouted through the throat mic, "Zulu-6, Zulu-3, we have been compromised. I say again we have been compromised. I need sniper fire on my location now. All Zulu callsigns, you are weapons free. Light them up."

Our squad peeked out of cover and opened fire on the approaching soldiers. We didn't even have time to take our suppressors off to conserve them. Several of the enemy soldiers fell dead to our outgoing firepower. Meanwhile, their fellow living companions returned fire towards us as they kept running in our general direction, attempting to find cover to fight us.

I ejected an empty mag in cover and pulled one out from my sneak suit vest and slapped it into place. I then heard a sickening crack as I looked to my left and saw Rebecca fall to the ground, a bullet hole in her head.

I screamed, "Fuck. Zulu-2 is down. I repeat, Zulu-2 is KIAed."

Zhang then shouted, "Zulu-4, how's the door coming!"

Zulu-4 replied over the mic, "Fucking Vanguard encryption is top notch here. Every bypass is pushing me out of the system."

Zhang then shouted, "Alright, all Zulu callsigns, give them everything you got."

Zhang stood up out of cover and aimed his M468 at a few soldiers and sprayed them down with a full clip from the assault rifle. The soldiers grunted and dropped down from their bullet wounds.

Zhang then took a bullet right into his shoulder. I heard him scream as he dropped back into cover, blood seeping out of the wound onto his sneak suit.

"Zhang" I cried out!

I dropped into cover next to him and looked him over for a second. He just grabbed me with his good arm and said with gritted teeth, "Roberts, forget me. Cover Vostov. He's our way in."

I let go of Zhang and crawled back to my SCAR-H, which I had dropped by the concrete barrier I had taken cover by before. Bullets whizzed over my head and slammed into the concrete cover, chipping away at it. I grabbed my gun and peeked out of cover and fired off short bursts at the enemy soldiers. I dropped a couple of them before I had to eject the 20 round magazine.

Vostov then yelled through the mic, "I GOT IT! Doors open."

Vostov then started to sprint over towards us, presumably to help Zhang, whom was still bleeding.

Vostov however, was shot in the leg and fell down screaming. He rolled on the ground for a few seconds before another bullet hit him in the bottom of the jaw, going up into his brain and killing him.

"Damn it" I yelled in anger over the losses we were taking!

I then yelled to Barry, "Barry, we got to get inside. Help Zhang. I'll cover you guys."

Barry dropped into cover and slung his gun around his shoulder, so he could carry it and fire it with one hand.

Zhang pushed Barry away, which seemed to take a lot of effort from the Master Sargent, when Barry tried to help him and said, "Forget about me you two. The sniper team can hold them off, but they can't for long. I'm just dead weight."

Barry shouted over the gunfire, "But your our leader, Zhang?! We can't leave you!"

Zhang grabbed Barry's right arm and made him look him dead in the eyes.

"Jensen, this is not a debate" he said with a grunt of pain from moving his injured shoulder wrong. "I've lost too much blood, and it won't stop. I can barely move my shoulder, and soon I won't be able to stand."

Barry just stared shocked at Zhang as Zhang then looked pleadingly at Barry and said, "I'm done for Jensen. The mission must be finished, and you two are the only ones left who can do it." Zhang then pulled Barry closer, although very shakenly, "Please do this old man a favor and let me die know it wasn't for nothing."

Barry let out a quivering breath as he said, "Yes…sir."

Barry and I took off in a mad serpentine dash towards the open door…or gateway to success of the mission…and safety from the soldiers shooting at us now.

I didn't dare look behind me as I could feel Zhang looking at me as he wheezed into the mic, "I'll buy you some time guys…good luck."

We reached the door as I ran inside and peeked around the open doorway to see the mob of enemy soldiers approaching where we were before, and I could see part of Zhang looking up at three soldiers aiming their guns at him.

I heard him speak one last time…

He looked up at them with a weak smirk as he kept his other arm behind his back and said, "Surprise."

He dropped something behind his back as I heard a soldier yell, "Gren…."

Then an explosion rung out from Zhang's location as the three soldiers, as well as several others, was torn to shreds by the fragmentation grenade.

Barry slammed his palm on the emergency release for the door next to the inside of the doorway. The door slid shut with a loud slam, sealing the soldiers outside from us…at least temporarily. Barry and I looked at each other and we both knew what the other was thinking…

FUCK…

We collected ourselves and made our way down the corridor we were in, looking for the lab that was containing the project we were after…Project Paradox.

After a while of combing through the building, we came across the right lab that our intel provided.

Barry tried to pull the sliding door open for the lab, but it was sealed shut. Barry groaned and raised his gun and fired into the glass window walls for the lab, shattering the glass for the laboratory.

When he let his finger off the trigger, I pushed him and shouted, "You idiot, what do you think you're doing? You could have shot the weapon system."

Barry looked at me with a blank stare before he pursed his lips and let out a soft, "Oh..."

We entered into the lab through the now blown out glass windows that Barry so brilliantly decided to shoot out.

We combed around for what the intel we were looking for had described to us as the project that was so dangerous to the resistance groups.

We eventually came to a tall, floor to ceiling tube container. I typed in the code that the spy had given us, hoping that it still worked.

The tube slid open with a hiss as Barry and I looked inside to see what this project was.

It was a suit…a bright grey and red suit with a visor of some sort on the head. The visor was shaped like a "Y", and appeared to be dark blue. The suit also had several weapons hanging in the tube with it, some futuristic weapons that I've never seen Vanguard use before. One was what appeared to be a sword of some sort with a flowing, amorphous blade. It was rippling like water, but was held in a perfect shape of a blade. The other weapon appeared to be a pair of pistols of some sort. They were short pistols that didn't have a barrel for bullets to leave, so one could only wonder what they actually fired. Both pistols had the same bright grey and red camo of the parent suit.

Barry looked at it with curiosity and said, "This...is it?"

Barry then looked at me and said, "Hey, Nate? Why don't you put it on?"

I gave him the look of disbelief.

"Barry, we don't even know what this thing is capable of doing, and you just want me to put it on like its nothing" I said?!

Barry then said defensively, "Nate, we are hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. Right now, those soldiers will be looking for us. If this thing can give us any advantage right now, I say we take it."

Nate and Barry then both heard a loud crash as metal groaned and what sounded like a door fell to the ground, followed by voices shouting.

Barry then whispered to me, "Nate, we don't have much time. Come on!"

I caved into Barry's suggestion and decided to put on the suit. If it killed me, I'm dead. If I didn't, then we're dead. What have I got to lose?

I walked over to the tube and ran my hand cautiously over the materiel for the suit. It felt unusually comfortable for a piece of military gear. Upon me touching it, the suit split in half, with no visible means for it to have been able to do so. The chest flowered open, along with the head, upper arms and shoulders as well as the thighs. I was caught by surprise as there wasn't any zippers, buckles, or anything that could have allowed it to do this. I turned around and started to slid my body into the suit, leaving my SCAR-H on the ground to be picked up later. The lining of the suit felt silky smooth and lighter than air. As soon as I was inside it, the suit enveloped me inside itself like a cocoon. My vision went dark as a display flashed in front of my eyes. A light blue tinted room I was just in, along with Barry and all of the equipment was still there.

I suddenly screamed in agony as what felt like a dozen tiny needles drove their way into the center of my back. The pain made me nearly puke, it was so intense. The burning pain of needles faded as quickly as it happened, and I suddenly heard a voice of some sort inside the suit. It sounded male, but was electronically synthesized.

"Presence of Operator pilot detected. Neural link established and synchronized. Warning: This suit is of prototype design and damage or destruction of this suit is punishable to the highest extent of Vanguard jurisdiction" said the artificial voice.

"What the fuck…" I asked rhetorically in shock?

The voice then said, "On board suit motion tracker online and displayed on HUD."

A display popped up in the lower right of my vision, showing a three dimensional holographic display of the room I was in, as well as surrounding corridors and rooms. I tried to focus my vision on the display down there, but it was too small. I wished it was bigger.

Suddenly, without any effort on my part, the display replaced my current field of view and showed the room I was in with a deep orange color. Everything in the room was a deep orange, including where Barry presumably still was. Way down the corridor where we came from, I saw blue figures moving down the corridor, sweeping their guns into rooms as they checked each lab and room for us. When I had enough of the display, I wanted my vision to go back to normal and my previous view of the room returned with its light blue tint.

The voice then said, "Releasing magnetic restraints from storage unit."

My body dropped a bit as I landed with a light metallic thud as the soles of the suit impacted the tube I was in.

I stumbled a bit as I then said to Barry, "Well, this thing hasn't killed me yet, so I think we're good."

Then more shouting of "Room clear" and "No rebels here" assaulted our ears again, but rapidly approaching us this time.

I then said, "Um…or not."

I then turned behind me and reached for the sword that was still attached with the magnetic restraints to the tube and pulled it off with a bit of effort. I looked it over quickly and found a switch on the handle of the sword. I flipped it and the rippling metal blade retracted back into the hilt, almost appearing to be melting in the process. I then slid the hilt onto a holster in my right thigh.

I grabbed the two pistols in my hands and pulled them off the tube as well with the same effort as it took for the sword. I held them tightly in my grip as they were a bit heavier than a regular pistol of the same size would be, like that of a Desert Eagle.

I held them in my hands as I looked to Barry and said, "Okay, I think it's time to exit stage left here. We got what we came for."

Barry nodded and we ran back out into the corridor we entered from. I heard somebody yell, "I got tangos near lab 13!"

I whipped to my right and saw a soldier further down the corridor looking at us, dropping to one knee as he raised his assault rifle. I instinctively raised my right pistol and pulled the trigger without even thinking twice as to what the weapon was even for or what it would do.

A ball of red energy shot out of the "barrel" of the weapon slower than a bullet would, but still fast enough that the enemy soldier had no time to dodge the incoming projectile. I watched in shock and awe as the baseball sized ball of energy impacted with his chest and appeared to explode on impact with a crackling of energy and the sizzle of burning flesh. The soldier's chest exploded apart out through his back, leaving a gaping hole where his heart and lungs would be. The soldier stared back in wide eye shock for a second before he fell to the ground dead, small amounts of blood oozing from his corpse from the exposed, non-cauterized flesh.

I felt like marveling in what had happened, until I heard another voice shout, "Weapons fire in sector 17C. Moving to intercept."

I yelled to Barry, "We need to move! Now!"

We took off down the hall past the dead soldier as we ran down the seemingly maze like corridors of the building. A few engagements with soldiers here and there prevented us from being able to leave the building twice through two separate entrances. Barry and I were slowly being boxed in by the Vanguard soldiers, and eventually this cat and mouse game would end with either two dead mice, or the mice finding their freedom from this high stakes game of death.

Barry and I were halfway down a corridor when Vanguard soldiers whipped out from both ends of the hallway and started shouting, "Hostiles pinned in sector 19F" and "You have nowhere to go. Return the Vanguard property at once and surrender yourselves."

I whipped my head around frantically as I tried to find us an avenue of escape, anything to get us out of this. My eyes then rested on a shut door that was not under the effect of the security lockdown that was put in effect on the building during our attempts to find an escape. The door, while closed, only needed to be opened with a terminal on the wall.

I ran over to the terminal to hit the open command. I then heard a few reports of gunfire as I whipped around to see Barry fire off a couple of rounds at the enemy soldiers. The world seemed to move in slow motion as one of the Vanguard soldiers was shot in the head from one of Barry's bullets. Barry moved to another target and aimed at another Vanguard soldier, when a soldier behind him lined up a shot with Barry. I let out a scream, trying to alert him to what was behind him, only to watch as the enemy soldier pulled the trigger and sent a bullet into the back of Barry's head. Blood and brain matter shot out of the front of Barry's head from the over penetration of the round as Barry's body fell to the ground in a slow fall.

My mind felt like it was going to explode from everything that happened in this fucking operation and everything that had happened. I had lost almost all of my team, and my best friend, in the span of only an hour.

A bullet flew past me and brought me back to reality as I slammed my fist on the open command for the door, causing the door to slide open with a hiss. I sprinted into the room and shut the door behind me. I could hear faint yelling from outside as I looked around the room I was now in. The room held what appeared to be power generators, whether for the building or for the entire complex, that was unknown.

The whirring or electrical motors being driven by whatever fuel Vanguard was using filled the air, almost to a deafening volume. I ran about the room, trying to find another exit, but there was no other way out. I was stuck in a dead end, emphasis on the word "dead." I heard the door to the room slide open as soldiers came into the room.

I knew that there was no way out, and if I was going down, I was going to take down however many of these fuckers with me I could.

I raised my right pistol and fired at a soldier, the red crackling energy caused the soldiers head the weapon was aimed at to explode like a ripe melon. He fell to the ground dead as the other soldiers returned fire at me. I rolled behind one of the generators and took cover from the soldiers. The enemy gunfire riddled the generator with bullets (not very smart of the soldiers) and caused the generator to groan and spark as part of the generator exploded as fire started to consume it. I was thankfully unhurt from the explosion. Whether that was due to the suit itself protecting me or my positon behind the generator was unknown, but I was knocked off my feet from the pressure of the explosion. I heard shrapnel land around me as soldiers started to yell out about a fire. I still heard the humming of another one of the generators in the room, which thankfully kept the lights on for me to see what was going on…only I soon saw things get far worse then I imagined.

Suddenly, sprinklers for the room came to life to try to suppress the fire. Water cascaded down my visor and suit as the floor started to get wet. I could only imagine the stupidity it takes to put a sprinkler system in the same room as functioning electrical equipment, or at least that's what the situation felt like to me right now.

I stood up and stumbled a bit on my feet as I saw the Vanguard soldiers running out of the room. I was quite confused at what drove them away…until I heard the sound of crackling electricity.

I looked up quickly and saw electrical wires dangling from the ceiling, apparently having been damaged and knocked loose by the generator exploding. I watched in horror as one of the restraints that kept the cable attached to the ceiling came apart, probably due to its own damage taken from the generator.

I took off towards the exit for the room to avoid what I knew was coming, but it was too late. Once the wire contacted the water covered floor, the ankle deep water started conducting electricity and it started arcing through me, aided by the fact the suit was saturated with water itself. My body tensed up as I fell to the ground, my muscles refusing to respond. I thought for sure I was going to be electrocuted to death.

I then heard the same male, artificial voice from before say, "Warning: Temporal instability in Chronotomic field generator detected. Suit power supply overloaded. Temporal anomaly detected."

I could only listen with agonizing pain as I heard a crisp humming coming from not the generators, but from my suit. I saw blue energy of some sort start to distort and move around me, growing brighter and brighter. I waited for what was surely my swift death from either electrocution or whatever the fuck this energy was to come.

The light from the field grew brighter and brighter until I was blinded by the light. Then my vision flashed to black in an instant. I thought for sure I was dead. If I was indeed dead, then why did I still feel agony in my muscles from being electrocuted?

Suddenly, my vision returned in a flash as bright light blinded me. I blinked several times, before squinting to try to filter out the blinding light.

I laid there for what felt like forever, my muscles refusing to move for a while. Eventually, I slowly regained control of my muscles as I rolled over onto my belly to try to stand up. Slowly, the bright light started to fade and I felt my eyes get adjusted to the light. I looked around as the world around me was washout, but slowly returning to full view to me.

I could now tell that I was standing in a forest…A fucking FOREST!

I could hear insects buzzing and birds chirping as I tried to mentally take in everything that was going on.

There was no sign of the research facility I was just in, nor an Vanguard forces or anything I'd expected to see.

I felt around my body to see if I still had my weapons that went with the suit. I could feel the hilt for the sword on my thigh and I still had one pistol in my left hand, along with the right pistol lying in the grass next to me. I reached down and picked up the pistol, only to realize that I wasn't standing on grass.

I stumbled back in shock and fell on my butt. I crawled away a few feet from where I was before and started breathing rapidly at the sight before me.

In about a 2 meter cubic space around me, there was no grass, but rather concrete…tiling. However, it wasn't just any tiling…it was the same tile for the generator room I was in before. I looked around and could only find one thing to say to myself.

Where the fuck am I?

I would soon find out that what happened to me was far more complex, shocking and disturbing than anything I could imagine right now. It wasn't just a where…

It was a WHEN…

 **(A/N: Here we have it then, the first two chapters for my new story, Project Paradox. I hope you liked the world I'm trying to set up. I wanted to try to do a somewhat more reasonable way of humans coming to Zootopia than some other stories, while still being Sci-Fi. Any questions you may have now will most certainly be answered as this story progresses. If you're wondering if Vanguard will come back into this story, or what time travel has anything to do with this, trust me. It will all be answered as the story unfolds. The truth to Vanguards existence will be answered, the truth behind the suit and tech that Nate has now will be explained, and ultimately the shocking Fandom truth about how mammals came to evolve and why they never encountered humans before in the world of Zootopia. There will be some questions that will push Nate to his limit as he desperately seeks answers to a slowly unfolding mystery around him, a mystery that will threaten a world he has never known and will ultimately entwine the history of three worlds. All the while, an epic story of love, loss, morality, identity and destiny will bring this story together. Let me know how I did and please be helpful with your comments. If you think the story is bad, that's fine. You have the right to, but at least, however, let me know how I can improve this story by leaving actual feedback on what needs work, where I'm lacking details in and what I need to focus on. Doing so only helps the writer improve their craft. Until next time, stay safe and creative my fellow readers and writers.**

 **(SR2Turoka-1)**


	3. Chronological Time Period Unknown

**Chapter 2: Chronological Time Period…Unknown**

 **(Howdy ladies and gentlemen, I hope everyone is doing well at the time of reading this chapter. I know it's been a while since I updated anything of my own. As many of you may be aware of, much of my time has been spent writing the story Zootopia: Two Worlds with ZombieSlayerOfTheUnderworld and other co-authors. Due to a combination of school, work and writing for this story, my time has been stretched very thin for my other stories that I wanted to write that are of my own idea and creation. This story was the one that I wanted to update for the soonest as I had some really great ideas for this story. I will implement some of them to the story, but for the most part, this story will remain unchanged other than the addition of another mystery into this story's plot, and a shocking surprise for Nate. I know some of you are frustrated at my lack of willingness to want to disclose any details of this change. I however, do believe that you will not be disappointed in the changes I made to my overall plan.**

 **I wanted to once again apologize for my lack of updates to my stories as of late and I hope to have more time in the near future since I am on summer break from college.**

 **Without further ado, I present the next chapter for Zootopia: Project Paradox.)**

Confusion…

Pain…

Regret…

Those were the emotions that I felt swirling in my mind as my full realization of what had transpired over the last few hours had caught up to me. In my heart and mind, I felt pain for the loss of such brave and valiant comrades in FoS that I had the pleasure of being able to call my "family." Witnessing each one of my fellow freedom fighters cut down like rabid wolves by Vanguard was difficult enough, but to witness Zhang, the man that my squad had viewed as a mentor and an honorable leader, give his own life to ensure we could complete the mission, it hurt too much. Words couldn't even find a way to describe how much his loss impacted me at the moment. Zhang was the very man that had saved me from a Vanguard death squad when I was in my youth; he was the one who gave me food, shelter, and a means to help protect myself and the world I knew that was gasping for freedom like an old man wheezing for breath. He gave me a purpose and he was the light of reason and hope even when darkness enclosed the world around me and fate seemed ready to seal our world in this dystopia of tyranny and fear.

I felt regret of not being able to save my best friend Barry. The bond of friendship that the two of us shared and developed over the years was as equal parts a weakness in times of battle as it was a boon to our spirit and morale. We always had each other's backs in even the worst of times. He always knew how to cheer somebody up when they really needed it, that part of his personality hidden under the façade that covered who Barry really was. Barry was a nice man and a great friend, but his hard to deal with traits that made so many people want to backhand him over the years were the product of his own losses that he endured before joining FoS. His parents abandoned him at a young age and the only person who ever treated him well and saved Barry from living a life out on the streets was a woman named Jessica who took pity on Barry and took him into her home. One day, when she went out to get her rations for the week, she was killed by a man desperate for her food, a man who Vanguard deemed unproductive to society and therefore undeserving of Vanguard's resources. Barry only found out when a Vanguard official came to the house to kick him out to make room for another family that was being moved there. After years of fending for himself, Barry eventually found an underground agent for FoS that was recruiting people willing to fight for a brighter future and a return to the liberty and memory that was a world that died many years ago. That same man that wanted as much as I did to make the world a better place, a place worth living and dying for, was killed before my eyes and I couldn't do a damn fucking thing to stop it. If only I could have shot first, maybe drawn the soldier's attentions to me, maybe this suit would have saved me and I could have saved him. Then maybe I wouldn't be the only poor soul to be standing in the middle of god knows what forest in god knows where for god knows why.

Then there was the confusion as to where the fuck I was and why the fuck I wound up here. It was clear that it was something with the suit that had brought me to this place that much is certain. The important question was why it did and how it managed to do it. The only thing that came to mind was teleportation by unknown means, which at this point I wouldn't put it past what this fucking weapon system, could do. All I knew is that I was now alone with no idea where I was and what had happened.

I could feel myself starting to cry over all the stress and stimuli of what had happened now working its way through me. I started walking around the immediate area, my mind buzzing with thoughts and memories of what had happened like I was watching a replay of my own life right now.

" _Who are you" one voice said._

" _Barry, two tangos up on the ridge" said the same voice._

" _Shame we couldn't save them" said a different voice._

" _What's your name son" asked the same voice?_

"… _In FoS, our duty is to give the people what they need the most right now" said a voice._

" _What's that" replied another voice?_

" _Hope" said the previous voice._

I screamed at the top of my lungs as my mind went into blind fury and I drew my fist and punched the nearest tree. To my surprise, instead of the pain that would be expected, my hand impaled itself into the thick trunk of the Oak tree I had punched.

I pulled my arm a few times trying to dislodge it from the tree, the plant refusing to let my extremity go. I finally pulled it free as I panted with anger.

Suddenly, I heard a voice say with complete clarity, much clearer than the echoing voices I heard in my mind just a few moments ago…

"You couldn't save them. It's not your fault" said the voice.

The suddenness of it made me whip around in surprise with one of my pistols for the suit drawn. The pistol expanded rapidly in my hand, having been ejected from the palm of my right hand as a block no bigger than a Lego. As soon as the pistol expanded to its full size and now killing potential, I pulled the trigger where I thought I heard the voice come from, sending a red ball of energy out of the "barrel" of the weapon towards my target.

Once I realized the situation before me, I saw that the projectile had impacted not a person, but just a tree, causing the truck to explode and fragment as if struck with a car. The tree still stood, but barely as the shrapnel cleared and I realized that no one was ever there.

I whipped my head around as I pulled out the other pistol in my opposite hand the exact same way and looked around for anyone that could have said that sentence.

I hesitantly stopped looking around as I then said out loud, "H…Hello, is anyone out there?"

I waited a few seconds before a voice replied, "There is nothing to fear out there…nor in here."

My eyes widened as I whipped around franticly to find the source of the voice as it again sounded like it was coming from right near me.

I then said, "Where are you?"

I looked around as the voice then said again, "I'm inside you." The voice then paused a second and said, "I am no danger to you Nate. I am just as confused as you right now."

I immediately began to think that I was going insane or something. I then shouted with fear and curiosity in my voice, "What do you mean 'inside me'? Who are you?"

The voice then said, "I am the A.I. integrated into the suit you are wearing Nate. I am conversing with you via the transference link between myself and your central nervous system. In essence, I am talking to you inside your own brain."

I breathed a shaky breath as I knew I wasn't insane, but that I now had a Vanguard made A.I. stuck inside my head right now.

The A.I. then said, "I…am Chronos."

I felt my own legs feel weak as I fell to the ground as I was afraid of what this A.I. would try to do with me. Would it fry my mind? Steal the secrets I knew about FoS? Would it control my body?

I then said, "Listen Chronos, I want two things to be clear to you. One, I am for sure not afraid of what's going on. Two, I am going to take this suit off before you deliver me to Vanguard or kill me for…"

Chronos then said, "Slow down Nate. I mean it when I say you have nothing to fear. Who…who is this 'Vanguard' you speak of?"

I felt my blood turn to ice as I repeated in my mind what the A.I. had said.

 _Who is this 'Vanguard' you speak of?_

My mind refused to work for a few seconds as I was trying to grasp how an A.I. made by Vanguard didn't know who its creators were. Either this was a ruse, or something really good for me had just happened.

"You…you don't know who Vanguard is" I asked in disbelief?

"No" said Chronos in response.

"What year were you made" I asked out of curiosity?

Chronos remained silent for a few moments before he said simply, "I…I don't know. I have no data on my own creation date stored on my systems.

I then clarified, "But you know what you are clearly, right?"

Chronos then said, "I know what my function is based off of the programing encoded onto my mainframe. I know what I can and can't control with this suit. I don't know who programed me, or how you and I got here. It's almost as if any of that information was corrupted in my systems."

I had my doubts and to my surprise, Chronos was able to sense that I was slow to believe what he said. He then said, "I'm telling the truth Nate."

I was about to ask how he knew my name, when I heard a bush near me…us shake. I spun around with my pistols in hand and Chronos then said, "Nate, two heat signatures detected in the lilac bush bearing 15 degrees to your right. Marking on HUD."

I suddenly saw my blue tinted vision near the bush replaced with a thermal overlay that indicated two heat signatures in the bush. They were too close together to be able to tell what they were specifically, but I could tell for sure that there were two, plus Chronos confirmed what I was seeing.

I didn't want to wait around for what they were and why they seemed to be lying in wait. I raised my pistols and fired two rounds over the bush to scare them away as I then shouted, "Stay away from me!"

I took off sprinting away from the clearing I was in and I heard Chronos say, "I know how we can lose them Nate."

"Ho…" I tried to ask, when suddenly I saw the world around me slow down to near the speed of a snail as I kept running at normal speed. I looked over to my right and briefly saw a hummingbird flying, but its wings were beating at a fraction of the pace it should be. I only managed to get a look at it for a few seconds due to my concern about getting as far away from what was in that bush as I could get.

 _What the fuck_ I thought?!

We had crossed the river and I noticed that the pace of my footsteps seemed to be outpacing the rippling and splashing from my feet impacting the river. I couldn't even imagine how this was possible. I stopped on the other side of the river and suddenly the whole world returned to its normal pace, as proven by the pace of a few leaves being carried by the wind through the forest moving at a faster rate than those just moments ago. The leaves drifted away through the air as if without a care in the world. I on the other hand, was not so blessed with a lack of troubles.

I panted slightly as I then shouted to Chronos, "What…the…FUCK…was that?!"

Chronos then said, "An emergency precept in case the operator of this suit was in danger. I shifted the chronotronic field around you to decelerate the space-time field around you, while nullifying the effects of a temporal shift to you yourself."

I then said confused, "I only understood half of…"

Chronos then said, "I made time around you slow down, while keeping you operating at the normal progression of time."

My mind exploded over the fact that apparently Vanguard was experimenting with a means to be able to perform time travel or alter time. Also, I felt a rush as I realized that I was one of the first humans ever to probably be able to experience time travel. However, I now fully realized something else.

What happened to me at the research facility that got me here was probably some form of time travel. The question was how Vanguard managed to even be able to find a means to control time, if indeed I getting here was by time travel.

Chronos then said cautiously, "Now Nate, I'm sure you have some questions, but I'm still trying to wrap my mainframe around this myself. It's as if large chunks of my memory have been deleted, and…"

"HOW THE FUCK IS ANY OF THIS POSSIBLE" I yelled out to no one in particular.

Chronos then chuckled and said, "Well I could tell you _how_ , but I know you want more than that. Sadly, I can't give it to you."

I looked around and saw that indeed we weren't being followed by whatever those heat signatures were; at least nothing visible was coming up on the motion tracker. I'm surprised that I forgot about that even being a thing, but after what I've seen, I'd be willing to believe that aliens were a real thing. I grunted and started walking forwards towards nowhere in particular. I then retracted my pistols back into my palms as I kept walking.

I then heard Chronos speak up as he said, "Nate, where are we going?"

I then said, "You mean where _I am_ going? I still don't trust your fucking virtual ass. Not after what I've seen today."

Chronos then let out a glum and drown out, "Oh…well, I see Nate. As much as I don't want to upset the operator, as long as you're wearing this suit, then you're stuck with me. If my very…presence makes you upset, then I suggest you remove your body from this suit and leave me."

I was half tempted to do just that, but a small part of me didn't want to. I had no idea what could be waiting around here to kill me if I was indeed brought here by time travel. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, Chronos and this damned suit were my best bet at staying alive. After all, he may have just saved me from whatever those two things were lurking inside that bush.

I breathed a heavy sigh as I said, "I'm not going to leave you. I may need your help to survive whatever may be waiting for us out here, whether it's Vanguard or not."

Chronos then said, "Thank you Na…"

I then said clearly to the A.I., "Just because I need you, that doesn't mean that we're friends. You need to earn my trust before I'll be willing to believe whatever an A.I. from…god knows where says."

I didn't want to mention to Chronos that Vanguard made him, only because I was afraid that it may somehow bring his memory back and make things quite…messy for me.

Chronos then said with slight hope in his voice, "I'm stuck in an unknown environment as much as you are Nate. If that's what it takes for us to be able to cooperate and work together as an effective team, then it will be done."

I kept our aimless trek through the woods going as so many questions buzzed in my mind. How could Chronos know my name? Could he read my mind? Could he be trying to trick me, luring me back into the hands of Vanguard?"

After a few minutes of us walking, I then asked, "So you can read my mind?"

Chronos then responded, "Not entirely, I am able to pick up on physical and psychological distress to the operator, with that function rooted in my programming to be able to offer tactical advice and keep the operator safe from harm. The emotional distress you were experiencing back there was akin to extreme distress from the loss of one or several loved ones…people you were close too. Naturally, I tried to offer the best form of comfort that I knew how to be able to, which was reassurance that the loss was not due to the responsibility of the operator. People need to hear what they need to hear sometimes to help them get through the pain of loss."

Chronos then paused and said, "I hope I fulfilled that function as best as I could."

Inwardly, I was impressed by the sophistication of this Vanguard A.I.'s programming, but I was also a little relieved that it seemed the A.I. I was stuck with for now seemed to have my best interests at heart for me.

As I…we kept on walking, I started to hear a distant rumbling sound. I gazed above me when I heard the rumbling turn into the more distinct sound of jet turbines. I then heard Chronos say, "Nate, six 'o clock high. Jet engines, appears to be from a civilian airliner."

I looked up behind me and saw a jet liner that vaguely matched up with an old Boeing 747, but I was unable to determine its exact model. It was easily flying at a cruising altitude of several thousand feet, but it seemed to be shifting its course downwards. Perhaps towards a destination?

 _Where there's a plane, there are people. Where there are people, there must be a city or something_ I thought in analysis.

I took off in a sprint towards the direction of where that airliner was heading, apparently much to Chronos' surprise for he then said, "Nate, I know you have a desire to figure out where we are, but think about this carefully. Those "people" may not even be people. We have no idea of where we even are."

I slowed down but still didn't stop running as I thought about what the A.I. had said. I then asked out of curiosity, "Chronos, what is todays date?"

The A.I. then said, "Judging from the temperature and humidity in the atmosphere that my sensors are reading, I would say early April, year...unknown."

I then stopped as I said in disbelief, "Whoa, back it up. What do you mean year unknown?"

Chronos then said, "I mean that if I had a way to be able to determine the year, which I most certainly did given the complexity of my software, it cannot give an accurate lock on when we are right now."

I hated to admit it, but Chronos was right. Barging into a population center of people and asking around for help in an unknown time period with no indication of who we were dealing with and what may be going on right now may turn out to be a bad idea.

I went back to my training with FoS to figure out how I could handle something like this, not that FoS ever prepared its operatives and fighters for contact after time travel. I remember that Zhang had told me that the best option when facing the unknown is to observe the unknown. Gather information, assess the situation, and coming from my guerilla warfare training, the most important thing to do, was to lay low and blend into the population, revealing yourself when the time to strike arises.

"Nate, I know you're there. Nate" asked Chronos, apparently trying to get my attention?

I jumped out of my thoughts and looked towards the jetliner that was now passing out of sight over the tree line in the forest.

I sighed in defeat and said, "Yeah, your right Chronos. We got to figure out what we are dealing with now to not put us into risk later."

Chronos chipped in with an "I am glad that you agree Nate."

I took off again in the direction of the jetliner to figure out just where the hell we wound up. I reached the end of the forest as the trees thinned out and I passed into the open on the other side. I was now standing up on a cliff face overlooking a bay. I gazed out across the waters and saw the jetliner heading towards a formation in the distance. I gazed out towards the sight of structures, manmade, that formed a city. The city stood with its tallest buildings in the center and appeared quite unusual in both the architecture of the buildings themselves, but also in that the city seemed to be built on the intersection of a jungle, a desert, and a rolling expanse of tundra. It was a sight that defied all logic on climate and geography.

Chronos spoke in a speechless tone and said, "Nate, that city architecture does not match any known examples in my memory banks. I advise caution if you attempt what I believe you are thinking as we may be dealing with an unknown society of humans."

I looked around form a way down the cliff and noticed towards my left that there was a narrow and broken up outcropping of rock that seemed to lead down somewhere. Hopefully it led towards the bottom of the cliff. I started walking over towards the outcropping and clung towards the wall to not fall. I followed the path down until the trail ended and I was forced to climb to the ground using rocks and cracks as steps, careful to not slip on my way down. The cliff face was unforgiving as several outcroppings gave out under my feet on the way down. One in particular caused me to drop a foot before I could grab hold of a rock jutting out of the cliff to prevent myself from falling to my doom.

Upon reaching the ground, I was panting heavily from the exertion and the adrenaline rush of nearly plummeting to my death. Oddly enough, I was not sweating in the suit. The air inside the suit seemed to adjust itself to keep my body heat in check; either that or I was getting paranoid of being encased in a sentient super computer capable of god knows what else. I walked across an expanse of gently rolling grass and shrubbery towards where the jet liner had gone. I then heard what sounded like the faint noise of somebody talking.

"Thanks a lot Mikey. You and your stupid imagination once again stopping us from having a vacation" said a disgruntled light female voice.

I dropped down in the knee high grass instinctively to prevent myself from being seen. I listened for the voice again, trying to isolate it from the ambient sounds of bird calls and wind blowing through trees and the grass.

The same female voice then said, "Why can't mom and dad just realize he is like such a total faker."

I started crawling towards where I heard the voice coming from and started approaching the edge of the grass, still hopefully concealed from whoever it was. I reached the edge and my jaw hit the floor.

Ahead of me was a road, a plain country dirt road. On the road was a dark blue pickup truck with its passanger door open and sitting in the seat, legs dangling out to the side between the open car door and the body of the pickup, was not a person. No, it was a fucking Cheetah. I couldn't but help to stare in amazement at the female Cheetah who was wearing clothes and texting on her cell phone. Judging from her attire and her purple dyed hair (fur?), that she was just a teenager. My mind was blank as I couldn't fathom how an animal was wearing clothes and using technology. I studied her behavior for a few minutes and she seemed to be acting like a normal teenager, not some wild man eater.

I then saw her right ear twitch a little as she looked down the dirt to look at something. I tried to catch a glimpse and through the blades of grass, I could make out what looked like three other cheetahs, two that were adults and one that looked like a child or a cub perhaps. Both adults looked like they could possibly be this female teen Cheetah's parents as one was a male and one was a female, both dressed in modern clothes just like the teen in front of me.

The cheetah cub was walking with what looked like a hippo child. My brain couldn't find words as I was looking at animals walking upright and wearing clothes, but now I was witnessing a prey animal walking with a group of man eaters. The hippo was carrying a digital camera of some sort.

"Mikey, I know that you and Alex may think you saw some strange creature, but it could have possibly been a trick of the light, or someone that was hiking through the woods" said the female cheetah with a deeper female voice.

 _Oh shit_ I thought. _Were these two young animals what I saw on my HUD hiding in the bush?_

"But mom, I'm telling you. We saw some weird looking mammal in the woods. He was wearing some funny looking clothes and he was yelling at us and he…" said the cheetah cub named Mikey.

His father than said, "Michael Jacob Clawdenson, I don't want to hear any more of your crazy stories!"

The cub and the hippo child cowered a little as they were walking with the two adults. The Hippo kid then said, "Honest Mr. C, we did find somebody weird in the woods. I got it on my camera and…"

"Oh fuck" I whispered over the kid having proof of my existence here, and threatening looking proof no less.

I then heard the teen Cheetah then say with a little sass to her voice, "Ugh, like finally took them long enough to stop believing his little stories."

The father then said, "Your camera which conveniently is out of battery power. Right, and I suppose you want me to believe in ghosts now?"

The Chettah father then said, "I don't want you two causing any more problems on our trip to Zootopia, alright. For the Lamb above, we stop off the main road so you two can go use the bathroom and then you have the nerve to wander off, scare us half to death and then make up ghost stories?"

The group of animals finally reached the pickup when the mother said, "Andrew, they're just kids, shouldn't you be a little easy on them?"

The father didn't answer with anything besides a slight growling sound as the family then climbed into their truck. The vehicle started as I then realized that this family may be my only means of getting to civilization…even if it's not my own. I quickly examined the vehicle for anyway I could catch a ride on their truck and the only thing that came to mind was climbing into the bed of their truck and hiding in there all the way to this "Zootopia" place

I then whispered, "Chronos, you got something in your bag of tricks to help me get into the bed of that truck unnoticed?"

I then heard the A.I. respond, "I most certainly do."

I then heard all sound around me die out as the exhaust coming of the car's muffler froze in the air and the leaves of the trees that were blowing in the wind froze in place.

Chronos then said, "Make your move fast Nate. Freezing time drains this suits power capacitors like nothing else."

I stood up and stepped around the frozen blades of grass as best as I could, taking advantage of dirt patches and areas where the wind had already bent the grass enough so I could safely walk on it. I cleared the field and crossed the dirt road to the family's truck and climbed in their bed. The bed had several cases of luggage and belongings of the family. I found a gap small enough that could fit me with time frozen like this. I hunkered down and nestled myself between the bags and suitcases.

Chronos then said, "Freeing the time stream now."

Once the A.I. said this, the sounds of the vehicle returned once more and the trees continued their dance in the wind. The truck took off heading down the road, hopefully towards wherever this "Zootopia" place was. As much as going to a population center inhabited by animals wasn't something I wanted to do, I knew that if I wanted to figure out just how the hell animals changed this drastically and what happened to humanity, this was the way to do it. I hoped that I could find out what I needed to in "Zootopia" without causing a scene.

I was horribly mistaken.

 **(A/N: That marks the end of my current chapter for Zootopia: Project Paradox. I hope you all enjoyed it and let me know what you all think about the suit Nate is wearing. Is it too powerful for Nate to have the ability to be able to freeze time or not? I don't want to make Nate too overpowered, but there will be threats further down the story here that Nate will come across that Nate would not certainly be able to handle without the power of Chronos and the suit. All I'll say about them is that Vanguard is not the only threat. When the time comes as well, I will also reveal the hidden surprises that I have in store for this story. I hope that I can keep these updates coming out now at a semi-reasonable pace and once again apologize for the long delay in me updating anything I own.**

 **I wish you all a great day/evening and I hope to have the next chapter out sometime soon here.)**


	4. Escape and Survive

**Chapter 3: Escape and Survive**

 **(A/N: Hello once again my fellow readers and writers and welcome to yet another chapter of Zootopia: Project Paradox. As I'm writing this authors note, I hope that I have managed to keep my promise and update this story in a semi-reasonable fashion. I also want to take a moment to point out that I had a run-in with a friendly neighborhood troll that "reviewed" my last chapter. I realize that I failed to handle that properly and should have just simply not fed the trolls, but oh well, you live and learn right?**

 **Anyways, I want to be clear that it will take much more than the verbal diarrhea of a common internet troll to drive me away from this story. I'm literally bursting with excitement over the surprise twists that I have in store for this story, and I am eager to want to share them all with you lovely readers and writers.**

 **Anyways without further ado, I bring you the next chapter for Zootopia: Project Paradox)**

As I lay in the bed of the dark blue pickup truck, I couldn't help but wonder what had changed since I apparently was propelled through time by the suit I stole from Vanguard. Animals were now sentient, capable of human speech, wore clothes and did pretty much anything humans were capable of doing it seems. Although I have only just taken my first few precarious steps into this unknown world, I had to wonder where humanity went. Did humans indeed live side by side with animals now in harmony, or were humans now subservient to animal rule like some sort of _Planet of the Apes_ type of scenario? Only time would tell as I was now bound to head towards this "Zootopia" place, hidden away in the bed of a pickup truck owned by a family of Cheetahs.

The dirt country road was certainly not a great time to drive on while sitting up in a car seat, and I found out that lying down on a metal bed of a pickup truck with bags and luggage bouncing around and even onto me was even less of a great time. The suit seemed to cushion the impacts of my body on the cold car metal to some degree, but I could still feel the impact each time the pickup hit a bump. I groaned to myself silently as I couldn't believe I had thought that this was a good idea.

"Chronos, remind me that if I try something like this again that I've lost my fucking mind" I said quietly to the A.I. in the suit.

Chronos then responded back to me saying, "I'm thankful that I was programed without any protocol to feel discomfort or pain of my own. That said, when an operator is present in the suit, I'm able to read the pain that the operator feels when in the suit. So believe me Nate, if you try something like this again, you'll be the first to know."

Chronos then paused and said apprehensively, "So have you figured out a course of action for us once we get to this "Zootopia" place?"

To be honest, I really hadn't thought of it. I had no idea what "Zootopia" even was, so I had no idea how to even approach it.

"Not a clue in hell, Chronos. I don't even know where we are heading" I said in frustration.

Finally, the bumpy ride I was oh so reveling in right now ceased as the vehicle turned right and accelerated even faster. Nearly a minute went by with no rocking of the vehicle. Curious, I grabbed the side of the bed with my right hand and barely even braved a peak over the bed to see that there were other vehicles driving around us and that we were on a highway of some type. I contorted my body very uncomfortably to be able to peer through the back window of the pickup cab and through the front window that we were heading towards that huge city I had noticed before back up on the cliff outside of the forest.

I dropped down quickly, afraid that even the short time I was exposing myself may end up proving to be a fatal decision.

I then said to Chronos, "Uh, Chronos. I think I just found out what "Zootopia" is."

I lay back flat on the truck bed and watched as trees that peered over the edge of the bed and off to the sides of the road wisped on by.

Suddenly, I felt the vehicle swerve to the right as the pickup must have changed a lane or taken an off ramp. The vehicle nearly kept its original speed as it entered a tunnel. I saw lights hanging from the roof of the tunnel fly by my vision as I could only imagine how much further it would be before we reached the now presumable City of Zootopia. As the lights whipped on by my vision, I couldn't help but be reminded of the time that my squad in FoS had been tasked to assassinate a Vanguard army officer who at that time had recently led a Vanguard raid on one of our military hardware suppliers in Mexico. We were tasked to this mission with two other squads to spy on him, figure out his movements in the Mexican city, and finally to set up an ambush to kill him and his entourage of bodyguards when the time was right. The mission was a partial success, but his bodyguards, armed with high powered weaponry and evenly numbered with us had managed to overwhelm us. We were forced to lose the pursuing Vanguard soldiers guarding him in a high speed chase through the streets of the city. My mind flashed back to that day as the familiarity of the lights in this tunnel brought me back to that escape. Echoes of gunfire and engines roaring with power to outpace or catch up to their target played back in my mind. Bullets whipping by our vehicle and metallic clanging and pinging noises rang out in my ears as our van we were fleeing the pursuing Vanguard in was struck by bullets. My memory of the event came back to haunt me as the final few minutes of that chase played in my mind.

Our van was shredded to crap at that point. A Vanguard piloted AH-64 Apache flew by our view as the tunnel opened periodically on the right to reveal a cliff side view of the Gulf of Mexico at night. The moonlight reflecting off of the water and boats, most likely Vanguard or authorized shipping boats, had their lights shine out on the water as if little stars in the vast expanse of water; a picturesque scene if not for the soldiers trying to kill us. The helicopter was lining up a shot at us and in an effort to save our lives, I grabbed the steering wheel from Zhang in the passenger seat and steered us through the metal road barrier and sent us tumbling down the roughly 65 degree angled cliff side. I had thought that Vanguard wouldn't expect it, but in the end our vehicle slammed sideways into a tree and nearly killed us all. We only lost one of our soldiers but we escaped the mangled vehicle and hid in the foliage around the cliff face. We held on to plants so they, as well as the darkness of the night, hid us well enough from the Apache's searchlight that was trying to find us.

Even remembering it brought doubt and pain to my heart as my actions nearly killed my whole "family" that day, and I couldn't help but be reminded that my whole "family" was now dead in the past somewhere. Maybe if I had done more…fought harder? Maybe had I reacted faster, especially with Barry, then maybe some of my family would still be alive? Would my father be alive as well if I had been smarter then too? The faces of those I lost throughout my life to Vanguard faded into my thoughts, their images stood as still as statues and yet as intimidating as man eaters ready to devour me as I really had to wonder…was all of this my fault?

"Nate, answer me now? Are you alright" begged a voice loudly to me? I recognized this voice to be Chronos.

My thoughts came back to the real world as I still lay in the bed of the pickup truck. I blinked my eyes a few times to find out that I had been crying and hadn't even realized it.

I gasped quietly and cleared my throat a little. I then said a little shakenly to Chronos, "I'm here Chronos. What's going on?"

Chronos then paused and said, "I was trying to get your attention for nearing five minutes now. I detected a shift in the chemical balance in your nervous system and noticed you were experiencing deep psychological pain similar to that of regret and loss again. What's causing this problem?"

I again had to marvel at the advanced A.I. programming that vanguard had given Chronos to be able to exhibit emotional concern for me like that of what a human would. It was both equally comforting as it was unnerving.

I then said, "It's…it's something…." However, that was as far as I got as the vehicle had come to a complete stop and stayed so for a few seconds before the engine turned off.

 _We must have arrived_ I thought.

I then heard the doors to the pickup truck open as Chronos then said, "Nate, we need to disappear. Fast!"

I whispered to the A.I., "Chronos, I need…"

Suddenly I heard all the noise of the surrounding environment die out. The sounds of cars, animals, and the city in general became silent as back before in the grass by the dirt road. The fact that all these noises died out at the same time was still as unnerving as the first time I experienced it.

Chronos then said hastily, "I know what we need Nate. I've frozen the flow of time, but it won't last forever. We need to move now."

I rushed to stand up in the truck bed and quickly looked around me for an avenue of escape. The vehicle had come to a stop in some jungle area of the city. Tall, lush trees with buildings built on them surrounded us, in addition to the view of waterfalls in the distance towards a tunnel that we presumably came from. Droplets of water hung in the air as if stuck in a zero-G environment. I spun around quickly and found that we were parked in a parking lot and a ways from where we were, next to a tall wooden and concrete looking building was a dumpster. It was better than nothing, but it had to be more than a hundred feet from my position. With the parking lot full of cars and animals frozen in time to get around, this would be a challenge.

I jumped out of the truck and landed on the ground with a slight stumble due to my rushed nature right now. I started running for about ten seconds before I realized something.

"Wait! That hippo kid's camera! I need to get it" I cried out!

I spun around to see that the hippo child was barely out of the vehicle. His camera was in his right paw and I took a couple of steps back to retrieve it.

Chronos then said, "Nate, we don't have the time. I won't be able to keep time frozen for much longer. If you go back…"

I then shouted to Chronos, "If these animals see footage of my existence here, it could turn things horrible for us."

Chronos then raised his voice to me and said, "And if these animals catch you here, it could make things very lethal for us. We still don't know much about these creatures. Do you really want to risk our lives for footage that can only keep us off the grid?"

I stopped and looked back at the dumpster and then back at the kid. I looked down at the ground in deep thought.

 _Oh fuck it. Being exposed doesn't mean being dead here_ I thought.

I growled in frustration and took off sprinting towards the dumpster. I didn't notice it before, but when I had been running, I had been running into the frozen droplets of water in the air. It was to my surprise that the droplets only hit me and got pushed away by the force of my body. They still remained suspended in air, but I could feel the tiny impacts of hitting the suspended water. At least it seems that freezing time didn't necessarily mean that everything became completely immobile. I had no idea it would work like this, but then again I never even knew that time travel was even a possibility.

I worked my way between cars and around mammals as I sprinted closer to my hiding place. After about three quarters of the way there, I began to hear a deep pitched beeping alarm in the suit. I then asked, "Chronos, what's wrong with the suit?"

The A.I. then said panicked, "The suits power distributer is almost drained of energy. The reactor isn't able to provide enough power on its own to keep time frozen like this. Nate, we only got 10 seconds max before time resumes! Run Nate, run!"

I started sprinting faster than I ever have before in my life it felt as the dumpster was drawing ever closer.

I ran past the last of the parked cars and towards the dumpster that was between the presumably hotel like building and another building, the alley became ever more quickly a desperate place of refuge for me right now.

Chronos then said, "5 seconds Nate!"

I kept sprinting as my heart dropped into my stomach as I saw a group of animals that were walking past the alley when time had been frozen. If time resumed before I got there, they would spot me right away. What bothered me more was the mammals were mostly predator mammals such as jaguars and wolves. I had no idea what they would do to me if things went really, really wrong here.

My legs kept carrying me further as I ran closer to the sanctuary I needed.

I was halfway to the curb from the end of the parking spaces when Chronos then said, "2 seconds Nate."

I reached the curb after those two seconds and the unthinkable happened. My right foot had caught the curb and before I knew it, I went tumbling to the ground head over heels. The impact hurt like a bitch and the impact dazed me. I lay sprawled on the ground until Chronos then cried, "Nate, time stream has resumed. Do you hear me? You got to move before…"

"Is that someone on the ground in that alley" I heard a curious and light female tone ask?

"Oh no" said Chronos in despair.

 _Oh fuck my life_ I thought.

I lay frozen as I gazed at my surroundings out of the visor of the suit. I tumbled into the alley, but I was still close enough to its entrance from the curb that I had been spotted by the group of animals walking past the alley. I realized that my head was facing away from them.

I then heard another voice, this time male say, "Uh, you alright whoever you are?"

I was curious as to why they weren't reacting as terrified of a human in a military suit that didn't resemble anything else I have seen around here yet. The only thing that came to mind was that they must be thinking that my suit was a uniform or something somewhat benign and more familiar to them than I could realize at the moment.

The same male voice then said, "Are they even breathing…"

I heard footsteps (Pawsteps) come closer to me as the voice then said, "The fuck is this thing? I've never seen something like it?"

I then heard a different female voice then say, "Don't get too close Matt."

I knew that I couldn't stay here any longer. Despite my brain telling me 'no', my instincts realized that I was exposed and possibly in danger and I had to get out of here.

I oriented myself as fast as I could on the ground and sprung upright. I came up facing the group of animals, only to hear gasps and exclamations of surprise such as "woah!"

Through my visor, I saw several jaguars and leopards staring back at me, in addition to a deer and an armadillo. They bore looks of shock and fear, some even bearing defensive postures as if expecting me to try to attack them or something.

Chronos then said to me, "Nate, whatever plans you got in your mind right now, please try not to throw things into a panic here. We still don't know what these people are we are dealing with."

 _Easy for an A.I. to say all calm and collected_ I thought.

However, I knew that Chronos was still right. Things could get a million ways worse than they are now if I don't act carefully here.

I had no idea what to expect from these animals, especially after two of them took a step towards me and one of them said with a very curious tone that bore a slight hint of fear, "He…hello. Is anybody in that…thing?"

The two mammals, both jaguars, slowly crept closer out of curiously. It made me very uneasy, as would be expected to have two talking; meat-eating jungle cats approach me on two legs. I back away a few step as I raised my arms out a bit to my side and held my hands open, ready to eject the collapsed pistols from my palms and bear them at these animals. My breath hitched in my throat and my heart was pounding like crazy over the fear of what may end up happening here.

I had no idea how these animals spoke in English, let alone if they could even understand me if I were to respond in English, but I regardless spoke up and said, "Stay back! Don't come any closer!"

Chronos then said to me loudly, "Drawing weapons on them Nate won't make things much better."

The mammals in the group seemed shocked when I replied to them. Alas, the right jaguar that had approached me took another step closer when he then said, "Hey…whoever you are, we aren't going to hurt you." He then paused as he took a step closer still out of curiosity and said, "What…what even are you?"

His approaching closer put me over the edge of paranoia right now and I ejected both pistols from my palms as they expanded to their full sizes in mere moments. I held one in each hand as I raised them at the group and said, "Stay back, I'm arm…"

However, that was all I could get out as a female leopard shouted loudly in panic, "It's got a gun!"

This caused a chain reaction as the other animals scattered and ran away screaming through the parking lot, fearful of their lives from my actions.

It took me until now to fully realize what my actions had caused. My first face to face interaction with the peoples…animals…of this world turned into one where I had threated them with weapons I still didn't fully understand out of the fact that they were all too curious about me. I could only pray that my defensive actions out of fear of my own safety would not put me at risk, but I sure didn't want to stick around to find out. I retracted my pistols and said to my A.I. companion, "Chronos, I need you to freeze time again, I don't think we can afford any more of these animals from seeing us right now."

Chronos then said, "I can't do that Nate, the suits power distributer is still recharging after our last foray into time. I won't have access to any temporal powers until the suits distributer exits recovery mode."

This was the very last thing I wanted to hear right now.

I ducked behind the dumpster in the alley to avoid being spotted further as I had to come up with some sort of a plan. I had to go somewhere I won't be seen. I looked around the alley, trying to recall my training of staying concealed in enemy territory. I soon found a metal storm drain that seemed to be worth a look.

 _Going underground should be the best way to remain undetected_ I thought.

I ducked and walked over towards the drain further down the alley as I peered into the grate down into the black void of darkness. The only thing on the other side that even reminded me that there was something beyond this grate was the reflection of light off of water that had collected in the sewers beneath my feet.

I reached out and grabbed the grate and stubbornly tried to pull it out of the ground, but it won't move to any avail. I grunted and strained against the metal obstacle until I let go and groaned in frustration.

Chronos then said, "Nate, I suggest that you might want to give the Ether sword you have a try. According to my systems, the blade should be strong enough to cleave through solid metal armor. This shouldn't be a problem."

I had nearly forgotten that I had acquired a sword like weapon when I put on this suit back in the Vanguard research facility. I reached for myright thigh and grabbed the handle of the sword weapon. I hit the switch on the handle I had used to retract the blade earlier and I saw a clear purplish fluid extending from the handle. I could tell that the material was indeed clear as opposed to the rippling grey from earlier due to the fact that I saw the concrete and debris of the alleyway through the sword blade. That might explain why the blade looked like a steel color as it was due to the greyish background of the chamber holding the weapon system. The liquid expanded to a certain height and then formed itself into the shape of a sword blade, immediately afterwards becoming solid in appearance, but still a clear-purplish color. I swung the sword through the air a few times to get used to the fear of the weapon. It felt light and nimble, like as if it was lighter than the air around the weapon.

My curiosity and examination of the handling of the unusual sword was interrupted by the sounds of sirens approaching my position. No doubt that some of the animals from earlier reported to emergency services about my gunplay. I frantically looked around for the source of the sirens, but I could only tell that they were getting closer and closer by the second. I took the blade of the sword and swung it down to the ground in a slashing movement, and to my surprise, the metal grate didn't even stop the path of the sword. It was as if the cut, if a cut to the grate occurred, had never happened. I then swung the sword down in an opposite cutting motion as before, and it too seemed to ignore the ground.

I heard an engine roar as the vehicle came to a stop behind me by the mouth of the alley. I turned around and noticed a police cruiser that seemed rather large and more intimidating than the police vehicles that I remembered reading about in the age before Vanguard. Even though the vehicles lights were flashing and the siren had only now turned off, they couldn't enter the alley with the vehicle due to the dumpster blocking their path. I looked back and started another slashing move at the grate with the sword going horizontal.

I heard the doors to the vehicle open behind me as I then heard a female voice then say, "ZPD, freeze where you are and drop the weapon!"

I stopped and turned around slowly to see two police officers confronting me, and they looked rather harmless given their sizes. One officer was a fox with orange and white fur with green eyes. The other officer looked almost comical and strangely cute as she was a rabbit with grey and white fur and purple eyes. The two officers seemed both shocked and equally frightened when they saw my appearance in this suit. I must have really been scary and intimidating to them with the sword in my right hand and myself in this suit. They both took a step back, but still held their ground. The rabbit then spoke and said, "Wha…whatever you are…drop the weapon now!"

I retracted the blade into the handle of the sword as the two animals gazed on with curiosity at seeing a liquid metal blade for a sword. I still held the hilt in my hand though as I then said quietly, "Chronos, what's the possibility of breaking through that grate after the damage I inflicted to it?" I didn't want to coax the officers into trying to take me down, but I was still as ever determined to do only one thing…

Survive.

Chronos then said, "If sufficient force is applied to the grate, with another few attacks to it, probability stands at 71.85 percent."

 _Good enough for me_ I thought as I started to plan out my next move.

The fox then said, "Whatever you are, drop your weapon now or we will be forced to use force!"

It was only now that I realized that both animals had their right paws over what I could assume to be handguns of some sort. The posture of the animals delicately balanced courage and fear, as well as duty and preservation, as they seemed desperate to hold their ground as they instincts were probably telling them to run in the face of danger, danger unlike anything they have seen before.

I then said to them as I knew what I was going to do next and I replied, "I don't plan on hurting anyone."

Suddenly, I felt my left arm move without me wanting it to as something seem to take control of my limb. My palm faced outwards, pointed towards the officers, as it swiped sideways through the air and I was stunned to see what happened next. A distorted field appeared in front of me that went from the height of my head and expanded to the ground. The field couldn't have been generated from time manipulation, so what was happening? The field stopped expanding just as the officers both fired their weapons at me several times To my surprise, they weren't shooting bullets, but were firing some sort of dart at me. However, as the darts reached the field in front of the suit, they were stopped midflight by whatever this field was.

Chronos the shouted to me, "Nate, that magnetic barrier won't last long, whatever you're going to do, do it fast!"

I extended the blade of the "Ether sword" and knew I had to act fast.

Both officers were shocked to see their weapon's projectiles stopped in mid-flight by the field. I didn't have time to look further as I ran over towards the grate and did one final cut to the grate vertically and I stomped with all my might at the grate several times until most of the grate disintegrated into scrape metal, plummeting into the water below. I jumped down the grate about a few dozen feet before I landed in water with a loud splash. I was both thankful and surprised when I realized that I was unable to smell the air down here in the sewer through the suit. The smell would have been familiar however, as this wasn't the first time I needed to make an escape through a sewer.

I then heard a voice yell above saying, "Nick, after that thing. We can't let it get away!"

I knew that was my cue to run and I took off through the sewers, the movement of my legs only slightly inhibited by the knee high water. I heard splashes in the water behind me as both the fox and the bunny fell down in the sewer. The fox landed with a splash of his own and surfaced in the water, only his shoulders and head visible above the water. The bunny on the other hand fell into the water and didn't surface for a few seconds. I then heard a slash of water behind me and a gasp of breath as the bunny must have surfaced.

"After that thing, Nick; it's getting away" shouted the Bunny.

The fox apparently hesitated to take the bunny's command, though it was hard to tell in the limited light of the sewer. He then asked with frantic concern, "Carrots, you alright?"

The bunny coughed a bit as she then said, "Yes, now get that thing!"

I gazed behind me and tried to bring up the motion tracker HUD by wanting it to show up, but to my surprise it didn't. I had no way to be able to tell how close the duo was to me other than the sounds of splashing water behind me and their silhouettes. They didn't sound like they were keeping up with me easily, but they were still trying to give chase. I kept running through the drainage tunnel as I asked Chronos in a somewhat panicked tone, "Chronos, how much longer till the distributor recovers and time manipulation is available again?"

Chronos then responded, "A couple of minutes Nate and the distributor should be back at 25 percent power." He then paused and said, "Nate, my sensors detect a series of possible tunnels ahead down here in the sewer. It would be worthwhile using the tunnels to lose these pursuers."

Nate then said, "Gotcha."

Water meanwhile continued to splash frantically behind me as these two animals kept giving me chase. I heard them periodically shout, "Stop in the name of the law" and "ZPD, your under arrest."

I kept trekking through the water until I reached a series of branching sewer tunnels. I knew the cops weren't far behind me, so I randomly picked a tunnel and went down it. However, to my misfortune, it seemed that my efforts hadn't delayed them too much. It took about roughly 15 seconds before I heard a panting voice then shout, "It reeks down here. Carrots, which way did it go?"

I heard a gasping and equally panting voice then reply, "Nick, I can't do this much longer. The waters so high for me, I actually have to swim in the water…sewer water." I heard her gag and cough. The voice paused as I kept on moving, albeit more slowly to avoid making too much noise.

I then heard the voice of the Fox then shout to the rabbit, "I think it went this way, Carrots."

Within the next couple of seconds I saw a beam of light shine down my tunnel as one of them apparently brought out a flashlight. The fox then shouted, "Judy, it's over here!" He then said, "Stop you fucking metal freak!"

 _Fuck_ I thought in desperation as I tried to escape these animals.

I kept on running as the tunnels sides became narrower. I soon took notice of concrete outcroppings that functioned as walking paths, probably for maintenance workers. I could vaguely make out a steel set of ladder rungs that were installed into the wall. The bluish tint of my visor seemed to make the darkness a little more visible than it would have been without it, but it was by a miracle I had noticed it to start with. I climbed out of the water and onto one of the concrete outcroppings.

I heard the fox then say, "Crap, I think we're losing it. I don't hear it anymore."

The fox must have pulled out his flashlight again as a beam of light started scanning the tunnel. I knew he would spot me standing on this concrete ledge, so I made for the steel ladder rungs and started climbing.

The fox then shouted, "It's climbing up Carrots!"

Chronos then suddenly said, "Nate, the distributor is recharged enough to allow time manipulation once again. It won't last for long however."

I climbed up the ladder until I reached the top, which stopped at a manhole cover. I tried to force the cover aside with my shoulder a few times. The cover was shifting, but it wasn't moving.

"Come on" I screamed as I gave the cover a third go!

Finally, I managed to push the cover aside and then I shouted, "Chronos, freeze the time stream."

Suddenly all sound around me eerily died out again, including any noise both cops were making. I breathed a sigh of relief as I climbed up past the entrance to the manhole and then found myself standing in a concrete utility room of some type. The room was dimly lit with some industrial lighting, so it was easier to make out what was around me. I scanned my environment until I found an open metal door meant to seemingly be a secure door against flooding. I also took notice of the pipes and wiring running in the area. I followed the pipes to a large mechanical apparatus of some type. It was either possibly a generator or a water pump of some type. The pipes flowed around in large tangled menagerie, creating a place where I could duck in and hide from sight. I sprinted over to the piping and ducked into the darkness and visual cover that the cold metal piping offered me.

When I thought I was safe, I told Chronos to release the time stream.

Suddenly sound returned to assault my ears. I heard the splashing of water below and the humming of the mechanical device I was now near. It was loud enough that it masked out the sounds down below me in the sewers to a sizeable degree. I, however, could still hear the noises down below, but they were faint.

I then heard a voice then shout in curiosity and panic, "Wha…what…where did it go?"

It was the fox that spoke, soon followed by a response from the rabbit that said, "I have no clue, but it must have gone up the ladder, it was already on it when it vanished Nick!"

I then heard water splash below as the bunny then said, "Follow me Nick!"

I could faintly make out the dull thudding of something climbing up the ladder ring by ring. I then noticed the bunny climb up first, panting and gasping for breath as she appeared soaked to the bone. When she reached the top she climbed up and immediately fell over onto the floor, desperately trying to catch her breath.

I then saw the fox climb up as he clambered over the edge of the manhole cover. He stopped and hunched over, paws on his legs as he panted from exhaustion. I could make out in the light that both of the animals were shivering from the cold water.

"Damn it, why did that thing have to go down into the sewers? There's no way this water could possibly be sanitary" said the fox.

The rabbit coughed and then said, "At least you didn't have to swim through it Nick. I'll be lucky if I don't catch Hepatitis.

The fox looked around and asked, "Where did that thing run off to now?!"

The rabbit slowly got up from the ground as she said, "Nick, there's an open door. Go see if he went that way. I'm going to scope out this room and see if he isn't hiding around here."

Nick seemed to loth that idea as he then said, "Oh no Carrots, I'm not leaving you alone with that thing possibly around here. We have no idea what it's capable of. We stay together."

Judy groaned and said, "Nick, if we don't catch this thing soon, it may try to hurt someone else. We're cops and our job is to protect the people of this city from all threats foreign and domestic."

I had no idea why the animals still thought I wanted to hurt somebody. Then again, my gun play and my intimidating weapons didn't help anything. They were simply just trying to take me in custody for the fear of what I could do and the fact that my true intentions and what I am is completely unknown to them.

Nick then said, "This thing is definitely foreign Carrots, which means we don't know what it can…"

Judy then said, "Nick, I never thought I'd pull this move on you, but I'm a sergeant and I outrank you. You do what I say as my partner and as an inferior. I say that you go check beyond that door and I'll check in here."

The fox glared at Judy as he was really in disbelief that she seemed to try that move on him. He appeared to want to challenge her over her orders, but he sighed and said, "Fine Carrots."

Judy then smirked at him and said, "That's Sargent Carrots to you, foxy."

He groaned and pulled out his flashlight and started jogging towards the hallway. He aimed the beam down the corridor beyond the door as he pulled out his gun from earlier. He quickly began to move down the corridor. His light kept disappearing slowly from sight as his form faded into the blackness of the tunnel.

The bunny, Judy, meanwhile pulled out her own flashlight, a smaller one than the fox had, and pulled out her own gun as well. She then began to shine the light around the room looking for me. I ducked further behind the pipes that covered my position as she started her search for me. She started walking around the room as the fox now disappeared from sight. I didn't dare move or talk to Chronos as she looked for me. Her light moved past the pipes in front of me as she looked around.

Suddenly, there was a rattling noise that came from some pipes that were near me. She whipped around faster than I thought an animal her side on two legs could do without falling over. Her light scanned the area the rattling came from. She slowly approached my location as the rattling continued once more. I was panicked at the fact that I might be caught as there was now nowhere to run for me. She was now close enough that I had to duck my head away from a small space that I was using to view the whole exchange between her and the fox, Nick. I now had no more visual contact with her. What she failed to realize with apparently being so focused on my location was that she must have been near the mouth of the manhole entrance.

I suddenly heard a "Woah…ahhh" as the bunny sounded like she fell into the entrance. I heard the clang of her flashlight and gun on the concrete below, with one having fallen into the water because I then heard a splash. I looked back through my peeking spot to see the bunny holding onto the lip of the entrance, being unable to apparently reach for any of the ladder rungs as I heard straining and grunting to grab the rungs. I heard her then yell, "Nick! Help!"

I heard whimpering coming from her as she dangled from the lip helplessly.

I heard her then shout, "Nick, help me! I'm slipping!"

I knew in my brain that she was one of the officers that were looking to arrest me, possibly interrogate me and take me to some place where animals would do tests on me to find out what I was. I knew that she seemed very strong and capable if she was able and willing to swim through sewer water to chase after her suspect. I understood that my appearance in this world…this time…hasn't bided well for me so far. What with me accidentally threatening animals who were only curious about me, granted it was in self-defense, but it still got me in the mess to begin with. Plus, that cheetah cub and hippo kid had video proof of my existence as well. I knew that every part of my brain wanted me to stay hidden and keep myself safe from the cops.

However, my heart wanted me to save this rabbit. She was only doing her job and meant no harm to me beyond the duties of her job. She was innocent in this whole thing as it was never my intention to harm anyone here. Most of all, she appeared so helpless and vulnerable right now, much like the people of my time that encouraged myself to join FoS and try to protect the innocent peoples of the world from Vanguard's tyranny and cruelty. If I were to let her get hurt or die, it would go against who I am as somebody who tries to look out for the betterment of innocent people and wants to make a difference in the world.

Even if it means me getting arrested, I can be in a cell or a laboratory knowing that I made a difference in her life by saving her from getting hurt.

 _Damn my fucking morals_ I thought as I knew the dangers of this as well.

"Nick! Niiiiccckkkk" cried out the bunny!

I climbed out of my hiding place as my body wanted to refuse to do what my heart had decided for me, and ran over to the rabbit and stopped by the lip of the manhole. I gazed down at the helpless animal as she gazed up at me with shock and fear as I stood above her when she was defenseless. Her eyes were wide with fear of both falling and of me. She then said bravely, "If here to kill me, then get it over with. I can die knowing I did my duty."

I had to admire this rabbit for her fierce independence and courage in the face of fear. I squatted down to the ground as my face got closer to her. She visibly moved her head away from me as far as she could. I reached out my arms as she moved her head away and closed her eyes, a few tears managing to well up in them. I grabbed the back of her vest with my right hand and grabbed her left paw with my left hand. I lifted her up over the edge and was surprised to feel that she weighed a little more than I thought she would. She was still quite light as a rabbit, but it may have been her vest and equipment that weighed her down. I rose her up over the lip and held her in my arms outstretched. She opened her right eye as she looked at me and slowly became quite curious as to the fact that I didn't hurt her. I lowered her to the ground softly and set her down. Then stood back up to my full height and gazed down at her. I whispered to Chronos for his to open up the head part of the suit so I could look at her. The blue tinted view in front of my eyes peeled away and shrunk away from my face and head, the suit seeming to pull away like a living covering that moved into it. When my head was fully exposed, her eyes widened more and her nose twitched as if she smelled me. I heard a voice then yell, "Get away from her you metal fuck!"

I whipped around with one of my pistols drawn from my palm to see the fox standing in the door that was open with his flashlight and weapon trained on me.

I then said, "I just saved her. I never meant anyone any harm."

The fox then said, "Regardless, you're under arrest. Get down on the ground and put your paws behind your head."

I looked back at the rabbit that was now backing away from me, clearly unsure of what I was going to do. She walked over to Nick slowly and carefully, her eyes never leaving me. I retracted my pistol into my palm and stood there for a few seconds before I then said, "The vengeful and vigilant guardian never rests. With their rest fades the hope of the world. With hope gone…darkness shall ever reign."

What I just said was the motto of FoS, our recruitment message for those brave enough to join our cause. I figured that it was the best thing at the time I could show them to prove I mean no harm.

"Chronos, freeze the time stream" I said.

All sound faded away again as time froze to a halt. I then took off running past the officers and ran down the corridor where the fox had come from. I kept running for as long as the suits reactor could keep up with the time freeze. I made my way through tunnels for a few minutes before noise resumed and Chronos then said, "Nate, the distributor is recharging again. Time manipulation will be unavailable for several minutes.

I couldn't hear the officers, so I assume that I had run enough of a distance to put some ground between me and them. I looked around the chamber I had just walked into and found metal ladder rings leading up to a manhole cover, this time outlined in brilliant light.

I started climbing up the rings of the installed ladder and came to the cover where I pushed it several times with my shoulder before the cover moved. I climbed past the lip and slid the cover shut with a deep metal clang. I could only hope the cops hadn't heard that.

I gazed around and found myself in what appeared to be a warehouse of some type. It must have been abandoned quite a long time ago as the building seemed to be disintegrating. Scattered wooden boxes and crates littered the groups, coupled with actual trash in places as well. The metal support beams for the roof were rusting and the air reeked of mold, but if this place was indeed abandoned, then it at least offered some refuge from my pursuers. The manhole cover must have been an access point for the utility tunnels under this part of the city, and a way for city workers to access the sewers and the underground electric systems beneath the city.

With time to think, I realized that I was stuck in an unfamiliar time with no humans seen so far, in a world ruled by animals and with no way to contact FoS. I was on my own. As I looked around me at the warehouse, I knew I had to try to make the most of what I got. Right now, I only had to do three things:

 **Establish a safe house**

 **Learn more about this world**

 **Most importantly…**

 **Survive.**

 **(A/N: Well here's the next chapter after an unfortunately long time of waiting, much longer than it should have been and I apologize for the wait. My summer became a bit more erratic than I was able to handle, what with work, family and some deeper personal issues of mine. Don't worry; these will not affect the outcome of me completing this story. I hope to have the next chapter out wither this month or the beginning of next month. I'm back in college again, so my time is still divided up between my hobby of writing and my studying to major in writing and rhetoric. What this means for you readers is that me studying writing and rhetoric will hopefully improve the quality of my own personal works, as well as the what I will be writing in the professional world. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter, let me know what you thought or where it needs improvement. Until next time, have a good one all.)**


	5. The Hunt and Expeditions Begin

**Chapter 4: The Hunt and Expeditions Begin**

 **(A/N: Hello everyone. I just want to thank you all for your feedback from the last chapter. It's nice to see you readers seem to be interested in this story still, and it's even better that there are new readers that are still interested in the development of this story. I look forwards to being able to write more content that you all can hopefully enjoy. So I'm at the precipice with this story that in order to make this story a bit more dynamic, especially after the introduction of Nick and Judy, that I will be including multiple perspectives into this and other coming chapters. This way we can get multiple perspectives into this storyline, Nick's and Judy's thoughts and actions towards Nate and this world of humanity that these animals have never, as well as the other animals of Zootopia. In addition, also being able to catch the future thoughts and perspectives that Nate has on Zootopia that he will be learning more about in the coming future. Without further ado now, onto the new chapter.)**

 **(In the room above the sewers; Judy's perspective)**

"The vengeful and vigilant guardian never rests. With their rest fades the hope of the world. With hope gone, darkness shall ever reign" stated the being in front of me and Nick that had just saved me from falling down the manhole opening and potentially getting hurt. My mind raced with so many questions as to what this thing was and why it had saved me, despite the threatening reports dispatch told us about it. The even stranger thing was that this metal machine was not completely metal after all. It had no natural scent to it only just mere minutes ago, but now, with the fleshy, odd looking head of it exposed, my nose detected a natural scent that the being had. It had the smell of sweat and a little dirt mixed in with its natural scent.

The being then once again seemed to talk to its self, or some unseen force, when it then said, "Chronos, freeze the time stream."

I reached my right arm out and shouted at the being, "Wait, don't…"

It was too late. The being vanished from sight once again, no trace of it being left behind. Nick and I looked around to try to see if it had reappeared somewhere else in the room, but it was unfortunately completely and truly gone this time.

Nick holstered his ZPD issued tranquilizer gun and he then looked over towards me as my own gaze veered off towards nothing as I was trying to comprehend everything I saw this being capable of doing. Nick then asked me, "Carrots, you alright? Did that thing hurt you?"

I then said with a half paying attention tone, "I'm fine, just trying to wrap my head around all of this."

I had no idea what to make of this being. First we get a report of an unknown creature threatening mammals at gunpoint in the Rainforest District, then this thing said numerous times it doesn't want to hurt us, then it saves me from falling and getting hurt. Sweet cheese and crackers, what one earth makes sense here?

"Judy, I swear that is the last time I ever leave you alone during a pursuit" said Nick with a sigh of relief. I gazed up at him slowly and looked at him.

I then said, "Nick, I can handle myself. I'm not helpless."

Nick then walked over to the ground where the creature was standing earlier and examined the ground to see if the creature had dropped anything before it suddenly vanished. He crouched down to the ground and looked around. He then said something that made me swell with joy as I remembered our situation together.

"I know you're not helpless, Carrots. You're far from it. I'm just glad that I didn't lose my best friend today" he said as he halfway looked back at me from his position with a smirk on his muzzle.

I knew that Nick and I made quite an effective team together. We solved the Nighthowler Case together. We took down Bellweather together. We made an effective team and I knew that our professional partnership also had created a friendly attraction between us. However, for Nick to call me his best friend made me quite content inside.

"I…uh…thanks Nick. I had no idea you thought that much of me" I said caught off guard by his statement.

I smiled at him as it seemed that my response made his smile grow bigger and his eyes emanate satisfaction at my response. He then shook his head slightly and said, "Anyways, Carrots. I don't see any trace evidence we can collect for forensics to analyze. I suggest that we find a way out of this sewer and report back to Bogo with what happened today."

I nodded at him and said, "No doubt he'll want to review our bodycam footage as well. But Nick, I do have one thing to say to you. Can you come here?"

Nicks expression changed to one of confusion as he walked over towards me as I suppressed a smile with what I was about to say next. Nick stopped in front of me and looked down at me as he said, "Yeah, Carrots?"

I then smirked as I said, "I just wanted to let you know that…you stink."

I chuckled slightly as Nick then smelled his forearm and drew his nose away quickly and wretched at the odor. When Nick noticed my laughing at his actions he then said, "Yuck it up Carrots, you were swimming in the same toilet water I was. You stink too."

I knew this was certainly true, but the only reason I wanted to pull this stunt on him is that Nick and I liked to joke around with each other. I can see why Nick viewed us as best friends, I started to recently realize more consciously the things we do with each other.

I then said, "I know, foxy. I suggest that we pay a visit to the ZPD locker rooms first for a shower."

Nick then snickered and said, "Or twelve."

I then said with a grin, "Twelve, that works too."

Nick and I went back down the sewers to try to recover whatever was still usable of my equipment I had dropped when I slipped and fell into the open manhole.

I discovered that my tranquilizer pistol was the item that had fallen into the sewer water. I knew I would get in trouble for losing ZPD issues equipment, but I really didn't feel like going for a swim in the toilet river again. I grabbed my flashlight that surprisingly still worked, but was noticeably scuffed, and then we went to climb out of the sewers once again. Once up top, we walked through the open door Nick had gone down earlier and we attempted to find our way out of this network of tunnels. I knew there were many questions left unanswered and many more mammals down at the precinct that would want to see our bodycam footage and get our statements. I knew however that there was only one way to be able to solve this mystery of this strange creature…find it and capture it. However, as it had clearly saved me from getting hurt, I had to wonder, was capturing it really going to be necessary.

 **(Meanwhile at the warehouse; Nate's Perspective)**

I was grunting with strain and frustration as I continued to barricade the only entrance from the sewers that this building had with abandoned materials around the warehouse. Several wooden crates, metal scrap and several large rubber tires made up the barricade so far. It wasn't the most solid of blockages for the problem, but it would have to do. I hoped that if the police ever did investigating through the sewers to trace any possible routes I took to get here, that this would buy me enough time to escape. Plus, I didn't want anyone coming up from the sewers at night while I was sleeping either.

Once I moved the last crate to the mountain of debris that now blocked the manhole, I panted slightly from my hard work and let out a steady breath as my breathing started to return to normal.

Chronos then said, "Nate, I'm pleased that we managed to find some place safe to take refuge until we can find a better course of action. Do you want to…"

I then interrupted Chronos and said, "Zip it, Chronos."

I heard silence for a few seconds before he then said, "Nate, what did I do that is troubling you?"

"What did you do" I asked rhetorically? "How about for starters, I got an A.I. linked to my brain that can control my fucking body. I wasn't the one who deployed that magnetic barrier Chronos and you know that. So start talking, how much aren't you telling me about yourself and this goddamn metal case I'm wearing?"

I heard silence for a few moments before Chronos then responded, "I didn't control your body to deploy the barrier Nate. I rather controlled the suit itself, which I then used to protect you. My chief protocol as the A.I. operator for this suit is to ensure that the human operator is protected from harm as much as possible. Look, I did some digging into the data files stored on my mainframe and I discovered somethings…some rather shocking."

I knew this would be a bit, so I sat down on the ground with my legs extended outwards and leaned against a crate. I then said, "Go on?"

"Much of the files and operating programs in this suit and therefore me seemed to be damaged beyond recognition. What I found that was still readable was that I can override the mechanical actuators built into the suit to take control of defensive protocols if the operator is in danger. It would have taken longer to explain to you how to deploy the magnetic barrier than we would have had before the officers fired upon us. I therefore took control to protect you from harm. I am not programmed to control the operator in any way directly…in fact, there is even a verbal override command that you can use to disable automatic defensive measures. All you need to do is just say, 'override command sierra'."

I gazed out into the warehouse dumbstruck at the attention to detail that Vanguard had in developing this suit. They were truly trying to create the first in a series of deadly weapon systems. I could only hope that even if I was stuck in this time period, whenever this is, that me stealing this suit helped FoS and the other resistance groups in the long run.

However, something still didn't sit right with me. Why would an A.I. that seems quite complex and able of perceivable free will want me to know how to control it? Surely Vanguard would want as much control over their soldiers that would be commanding their newest and probably most lethal weapon system they've made yet.

"Chronos, why would you want me to know how to control you? That seems a disadvantage to you" I said in confusion.

I then heard Chronos then say, "Nate, I told you before that if the two of us are to survive this hostile environment, then we must work together. In order to do that, we need to build trust for one another. I want you to feel as comfortable around me as possible, for I can't function without an operator of my own will, and you can't have a true advantage against the denizens of this world without me. Think about it Nate, how many times already have you been able to survive, move about, and escape capture with my assistance?"

I knew Chronos was right. I owe this A.I. my freedom and my life so far. It may have been my paranoia about him being a Vanguard A.I. that made me not trust him, but we needed each other right now.

I then said, "Chronos, about those damaged files you mentioned. Do you have a way to repair those files?"

He then replied with a sullen, "No, at least not for some time. I'm attempting to initiate a full system recovery of the damaged files. Hopefully, I can reconstruct the missing data and return myself to full operating status."

I smiled slightly and said, "Well the sooner the better. It's better to be over prepared for the unknown than under prepared."

Chronos then said, "I completely agree Nate."

I stood up from where I was as I stretched my sore body out from the stresses of today. I felt my back pop in a satisfying way as I then sighed and said, "While you're doing that Chronos, I'm going to try to see if I can make this place somewhat livable."

I knew I needed to set up facilities here: a place to sleep, a place to store food, and a place to run operations from. I needed a place to store information on this world and its animal peoples, as well as draw up plans for scouting and salvage operations. Quite a daunting task for one man, but this one man has an A.I. companion, a suit capable of time powers and equipped with destructive weapons and defensive precepts. Perhaps biggest of all, this one man has guerilla warfare training, espionage training and survival training from his mentor and father figure in FoS, Zhang.

 _Zhang…_ I thought in remembrance.

I felt my heart grow heavy as I remembered the man that saved me from FoS and took me under his command to turn me into a warrior of humanity to fight back against the dark tide. When he looked at me and spoke as he was dying, telling me to finish the mission, telling me that he didn't want his sacrifice to be in vain, I realized that he spoke with not only authority as a squad leader. He also spoke with the protectiveness and care of a father, one who would give his own life to ensure his own son lives. I felt my eyes tear up as I knew that unless I got back to my own time, unless I helped finish off Vanguard once and for all, I will have not only failed Zhang, but everyone in FoS and indeed all the tormented and abused innocents of the world. I knew I had no other choice but to carry on.

I walked over towards a pile of discarded wood about 15 feet from me as Chronos then said, "Nate, were you thinking of them again?"

As I reached for a few 2 x 4's, I stopped and asked Chronos uncertain, "Yeah, why?"

He then said, "Nate, you shouldn't dwell on the past. It wasn't your fault."

I breathed in deeply and let out a breath as I said with a little quiver in my voice, "No, but that doesn't mean I should forget them either."

Chronos remained silent after I spoke as I grabbed the wood and began to figure out the materials I had around the warehouse, besides the wood, to be able to turn this place into a base of operations. I knew the hardest part would be seeing if there were any tools around to help me assemble what I needed. If not, I would need to…procure some from somewhere.

Even though I had only taken my first few steps into the unknown, I knew my journey here was only just beginning.

 **(Back at ZPD Precinct 1, Nick's perspective)**

Judy and I entered the Precinct after we parked the cruiser in the secure, fenced off lot for the patrol vehicles. I'm glad that we got back safely after what had happened. Judy was complaining that she was exhausted from the chase in the day, and that she would need to let Bogo know about her exposure to the sewer water in case she got sick. I felt sorry for my bunny partner as she nearly got hurt by that creature and had to swim through sewer water.

As we walked through the building I noticed the other officers groan and gag as we walked past them, I being a little embarrassed at our offending odor. I saw officers cover their noses as we walked up to the reception desk. Our friendly Cheetah dispatcher, Clawhauser, gazed at us with a smile and said, "Welcome ba…"

He then went wide eyed and gagged as he covered his nose and said, "Um, I don't mean to be rude you two, but I have to tell you…you guys stink."

Judy then groaned and said, "Yeah, don't remind me. We had to chase a suspect through the sewers today."

I then added, "Well, chase isn't the right word, Carrots. I would have said more along the lines of swim through the sewers."

Judy looked up at me with a glare of anger and said, "Yeah, but you weren't actually swimming in that vile stuff Nick, I was."

I raised my paws defensively and said, "Easy Carrots, I meant no harm by it."

I then said, "Anyways, can you let the chief know that we need to see him right away, _after_ we shower this stink off of us."

Clawhauser nodded and said with a nasally voice since his nose was covered, "You got it. Sorry about what happened."

We walked away from the reception desk past even more officers who unsurprisingly gave us a wide birth. Judy was about to enter the female locker room as I was about to enter the male one. I then said to her, "Judy?"

She glared up at me with a tired expression and said, "Yeah, Nick?"

I then said, "Glad you're alright."

She smiled tiredly and said, "You too."

We then entered the locker rooms. I got to my locker and stripped down to my bare fur as my clothes hadn't completely dried yet, so I had to peel my socks and my underwear off my body. I knew this uniform was trashed for now. I grabbed a towel and my shampoo. I then walked over to where the showers were and found a random showerhead. I set my shampoo on the little shelf next to the shower handle and I whipped my towel over the back of the shower head, out of the way so it wouldn't get soaked. I turned on the water and waited for it to get the right temperature. I stepped into the water and felt my body shiver, not from the temperature of the water, but rather how absolutely like pure bliss the water felt on my body. I let out a drawn out breath as I felt my body start to unwind from today.

As I started showering, I got into thinking back to how close that fleshy metal creature was to Judy. That is, if that creature indeed had a metal shell covering to it. Whatever it was wearing looked like metal at first glance, but thinking back to it now, the material of it was almost like a rough fabric it seemed. I remembered how that thing was holding Judy when I walked into the room. I was so terrified about seeing Judy unarmed and that close to the creature that I felt myself freeze up. I felt a chill run down my spine as I realized that my inactions could have cost my best friend her life as that think looked capable of hurting her, especially since its sword weapon was able to cut through industrial grade three inch thick steel.

However, it didn't hurt her. It claimed that it saved her, but I've learned through my years as a con-mammal that looks made or broke the mammal on the street. Even the most scheming and sinister of mammals can be putting up a façade to hide their true self. However, I recognized a look in that creature's eyes…its real eyes. Finnick always told me that the eyes always betray our true selves. I didn't believe him at first, but over my many scams, I learned how to hustle mammals from reading them: their body, eyes and posture.

That creature had a look in its eyes of fear at the moment, but deeper in them it had the eyes of something that unsettled me after it had let Carrots go…

It had the eyes of a killer. Somebody that had murdered people, but for what I couldn't tell.

All I knew is that its word couldn't be trusted, and that we need to learn more about this thing and this "Chronos" it kept talking to itself about.

I finished showering and turned the water off. I grabbed my towel and dried off, followed by putting on my extra uniform I had in my locker. I knew it was time to go try to explain things to Chief Bogo. I knew that Bogo would either think we're crazy or that we need a vacation. I took relief in knowing that the bodycam footage would backup our story.

I exited the locker room and looked around the immediate area for Judy, but she was nowhere in sight. Either she was still showering, or she was on her way to Bogo's office. I decided to head up there first.

Upon arriving, I saw my favorite bunny sitting in a chair outside of Bogo's office. She was so small compared to the chair that was meant for mammals like hippos and tigers. I actually found it kind of funny and cute. Of course, I would never use the later word in front of Judy, as she'd be liable to pull a Taser on me. Not really of course.

She casually looked around the hallway as she was most likely waiting for me to show up. She looked over to her left and noticed me, to which she smiled and said, "Nick, good to see you."

I walked over towards her and asked her, "How you holding up, Judy?"

She shrugged at me and said, "I'm fine, just still sore and praying I don't get some horrible disease."

I chuckled to her and said with a look of mild disbelief, "I still can't believe that you did that."

She then said with a cocked head and a raised eyebrow, "Nick, you really expect me to allow a suspect to get away? I'm better than that, even if better involves swimming in a toilet river."

Judy then looked at the door to Bogo's office and said, "Alright then, you ready partner?"

I then looked at the door said, "I am if you're ready, Carrots."

I knocked on the door and I heard Bogo's loud and commanding voice say, "Enter."

I opened the door for Judy since she had a hard time reaching the handle to Bogo's office. The door opened and inside was Bogo at his desk looking over several files.

He must have finished reading his current line because he looked up at us and he said with a straight face, "Enter you two."

We came into his office and closed the door. We then took our seats and waited for Bogo to speak. He closed up the files he had and then put his paws together and interlocked them on his desk. He then said, "Clawhauser said you wanted to see me? This had better be good, because I also received reports from other officers in the building that you two came in smelling like…oh what was Higgens' words." He then paused as if to equally toy with us and drive a point home. He then said with a realization, "Oh yeah. He said you smelled like rotting wood mixed with festering fish entrails."

Bogo then leaned forwards and glared at us, which made Judy slink back a little in her seat, but I held my ground. He then said, "You better have a good reason for smelling like a landfill."

Judy then stood up in her seat and said, "Yes, sir. We do actually. We got a call from Clawhauser about an unknown creature in the Rainforest district."

Bogo then said as if her words jogging his mind again, "Oh yes, the purported 'unknown creature'. So what was it, a prank? Was it a mammal in a costume?"

Bogo looked at us as if expecting a quite easily explainable answer to the strangest call that the ZPD received all week.

Judy and I looked at each other for a few seconds and then back at Bogo. When our eyes returned to him, his expression changed to one of disbelief. He then said plainly, "You can't be serious…"

I then said, "We did encounter a strange creature, sir. It had apparently threatened some innocent civvies with guns, which was in the dispatch call. When we arrived, it had a sword in its paw and was hacking away at a 3 inch thick storm drain grate with it. It…" I then paused for a second as I was unsure if Bogo would believe what I would say. "…It actually cut though the metal with its sword and fell into the sewers beneath the alley."

Judy then said, "Yeah, then we had to chase it through the sewers when it…"

She was however interrupted by Bogo shouting in a booming voice, "That's enough!" I swear I felt the walls of his office rattle after that statement.

We both shut up immediately and sunk in our seats at the fury of our supervisor. He then said, "I wanted to hear an explanation, not an excuse to why you smelled like the back end of a…"

Judy then scoffed and said, "But sir, it's not an excuse. Our body cams caught it on tape." She then pleadingly said, "Please just check the footage. Check the dashcam. Check the scene where we met the creature. I promise you that what we saw was real."

Bogo then snorted at us and then he rubbed his right temple as he was clearly in deep thought about what to make of this story.

He then said, "You two have never been known to lie or have ever been caught lying. I will take you up on what you say, but just know that the recordings from your bodycams and dashcam will be taken in for evidence pending this investigation. I also ask that you report the very exact same alley this occurred in to our forensic team so they can investigate it for clues. I also ask that you talk to Detective Howlstein and report what this creature looked like, sounded like, you know the drill."

Judy then breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Oh, thank yo…"

Bogo then held up a digit on his right paw and said, "Know this however, if no evidence indeed returns on the bodycams or the dashcam and forensics doesn't find anything unusual with the alley in question; then this will be taken as an act of lying to your supervisor and wasting department resources." He then leaned in closely to us and said, "If this is the case, I will tell you two right now, I WILL NOT hesitate to levy discipline on you two. You two may be the Nighthowler Case heros, but that doesn't put you above every other officer if you are found guilty of either offense. Do I make myself clear?"

I felt my heart beat quickly at Bogo's tone and threats of discipline, but I heard Judy let out a shaky breath of fear, most likely at losing her job.

We both then said, "Crystal clear, sir."

Bogo then said, "Good, you two are dismissed then."

Judy and I walked out of Bogo's office as we closed the door behind us. I groaned to no one in particular and said, "Well, that could have gone better…"

Judy sighed and said, "Yeah…but at least he's willing to take us on our word, provided the evidence backs it up."

I then said, "Come on Carrots, let's go talk to Detective Howlstein, then we need to get back on patrol."

As we walked down the corridors of the precinct towards the detective's offices, I could only wonder where this mysterious creature had come from and what it was doing right now. I could only hope that this creature was indeed not a threat to anyone as it had said to us several times earlier. Time would only tell…

 **(Back in the warehouse; Nate's perspective)**

"Well, it wasn't easy, but that should hold for now…I hope" I said as I stood up from my crouched position as I dusted off my hands.

I had just managed to put together a primitive, cobbled together bed from wood and discarded tires. It wouldn't be the most comfortable sleeping arrangement, but it would be better than the floor, not by much though sadly.

I knew I needed to find some tools soon and I would need to leave this warehouse eventually to gather other materials…As I said this, I felt my stomach rumbling as I looked around sullenly at the lack of food that this building had been left behind with. I knew I would need to find food as well. My options were quite limited as how to acquire these things. If I stole them from the animals, then I would be labeled as a common thief, in addition to a distrustful freakish creature to them.

My mind started to drift towards the events of today as I tried to play back the events in my mind, hoping for all of this to turn out to be some sort of delusion or dream, but one thing stuck out first.

Curiosity peaked as I had asked Chronos so many questions earlier as I put together (or started to) my base of operations. I found out that Chronos had no remaining memory of his creators, though he said that that knowledge may be in some of the corrupted files he was slowly trying to restore. I had soon realized that this wouldn't be good for me for if he restored the files he had about Vanguard; it may cause him to remember that I'm not with them, and therefore a threat to him and the suit since both are Vanguard property. I could only imagine what he might try to do to eliminate me when he finds out. I found out that he was not restricted completely by his A.I. programing. He was an intelligence capable of learning and near limitless free will. His only restriction was that his free will could not jeopardize the Operator's life. Other than that, he had free reasoning, thinking, and observation of the world around him. The one thing that I never found out was how he knew my name.

"Chronos, got another question for ya" I said.

He then said, "That being?"

I then said, "How did you know my name was Nate to start with? I never told you, let alone even knew you were actually an A.I. or even in this suit before you first spoke to me."

Chronos stayed quiet for a few moments as if trying to process this question thoroughly. He then said, "It's…difficult to explain. The best answer I can give is that once I felt you bonded with me, I just…knew."

I cocked my eyebrow and then said, "Um…excuse me?"

He then said, "Like I said, it's hard to explain. This could be part of a surviving subroutine that got partly corrupted that allowed me to know this. It could even be something hardware based that I'm unaware of, though that is quite unlikely. Regardless, it was like I just suddenly…knew. Plus, you're the Operator and therefor when I knew your name, I had to make my presence known so I could start trying to protect you."

I then said, "I see…" as my question really wasn't anymore answered than before.

I then walked over towards a series of gritty and smudged windows and peered out into the surrounding city. The light of the sun, starting to show it was nearing early evening, was fading as the sun started to set. I gazed at the surrounding bustling and active city. I sighed as I started to slowly realize that not only was I probably the only human around here, but that I was watching people...er, animals, go about their daily lives free from the hardships I fought and watched my fellow freedom fighters pay so dearly for standing against. Here, it appeared there were no military imposed curfews, military patrols and roving death squads. There were no public executions and no tyrannical despots. Of course this was all based on assumptions, but it still was such a bittersweet feeling to gaze upon a world free from the evils of the one I came from, and to then realize suddenly that this world was no longer the one you were fighting for. Here, the peoples of this city were free. Free to choose who to love, where to work, where to live, and what to believe in. I felt tears begin to form in my eyes as I longed for such a feeling in the FoS. I sniffled as I tried to compose myself, but the beauty of freedom was as much equal parts majestic and tragic for me.

I had put my hand against the grimy glass window all this time as I gazed out into the city. I cried out loud and slammed my fist onto the glass window, breaking the one spot in the pane. I was only mildly surprised that I didn't hurt my hand or even feel the impact of the force applied, but that was only because of my attention out the window at the show of idealism playing in front of me.

I was also surprised when Chronos didn't speak up to me for the discomfort I felt, however that was quickly forgotten as the A.I. then soon said, "Are you alright, Nate?"

I looked out the window as I saw a wolf mother and her two pup kids walk down the sidewalk, the kids laughing and playing with each other as they strolled down the sidewalk. The mother was trying to keep her kids in control, while at the same time letting children be children. The sight of such innocence and lack of fear from the hardships I knew was gut-wrenching to me.

I looked away from the window and said, "I'll be fine, Chronos. Look, it's almost night time and I need to start making preparations."

I began to walk over towards another construct I made, which was what I called "The Prepping Area". I put this area, consisting of a workbench that I had rigged together with wood, but still needed tools to finish it and make it usable. It also had a crate that I would use for the storage of supplies used on my expedition trips out into the city for further supplies and materials. I also had gathered the materials for a bookshelf that I would put together when I got tools, with this being where I would store any documents, books, flash drives, any knowledge at all that I gathered on this strange world. My plan was to use these to better create future expedition plans for safe and more efficient excursions into the city for supplies and recon.

Chronos then asked me curiously, "For what, Nate?"

I then said with a weak smirk, "My first test of survival here…my first foray into the city. Question is, where do I start?"

 **(Back at Precinct 1; Judy's perspective)**

"So how would you describe this 'weird creature', Officer Hopps" asked Howlstein, a Timberwolf detective.

I then said, "Taller than both me and Nick. It was maybe 5 foot 9 inches. I was wearing some sort of…covering. The covering was bright grey and red in color, and its face was shaped like a "Y" with a light blue color to it. However, we found out that its real face was beneath this covering" I said to the detective.

He paused writing down the notes of what I was saying and asked, "You're saying it had two faces?"

I then said, "Not really." I then paused and rubbed my chin and looked up towards the ceiling as I then said, "How can I describe it? Its real face was…furless. It had green eyes and it only had any visible fur on the top of its head, which was a brown color. Its nose was unlike any mammal nose I've seen before and its lips were a pink color. Its bare skin was a light tan color.' I then paused as I squinted my eyes as I thought to myself. I then said, "I'm not sure what else to say." I then looked to my partner who was sitting in another upholstered armchair like the one I was sitting in, one with an abstract green and blue pattern to it. Nick was reclined slightly in his chair with a leg crossed over his other thigh as I then said, "You want to add anything else to your description Nick, I can't think of anything else?"

Nick looked at me and then the detective and then stayed quiet as if thinking before he snapped his right paw digits and said, "It had a male voice, I think we forgot to mention that if this helps. The bodycam footage should have a recording of its voice on it. I would think anyways."

Howlstein wrote down his final notes and then looked at us and said, "Very well then officers. I'll get your details to a sketch artist and we'll see if we can get an image out there for our department to compare to the creature…and track it down."

Nick scoffed and said, "If any of our officers don't recognize this thing as an unknown creature on sight, I think we need to do mandatory eye exams. Come on, how many other creatures could there be like it?"

Howlstein glared at Nick and said, "Officer Wilde, what makes you think this creature is certainly alone?"

Nick's expression went wide eyed as he then asked with a stutter, "Yo…You think there are more of these things out there?"

The detective shrugged as he said, "I can't say for certain, but what I can say is that an unknown creature cannot simply have just came into existence. Nature, no matter how unusual she can get in her creations, simply just doesn't make a single creature exist out of thin air. This thing at the very least has to have a family, or maybe even a mate if one's out there. Hell, it may even have ancestors buried in the fossil records. If this is the case, this creature may not pose any threat itself, if what you're saying is true that it never wanted to hurt anyone, but that doesn't stop any others like it from posing a threat. Besides, according to scientists, there are still at least thousands of species out there in the world that haven't been discovered or even observed by mammalkind." He then paused and chuckled. He then sighed slightly and said, "That is of course if this thing is indeed a natural creation. If nature didn't make it, then someone else did. If this is the case, we'll find it and track it down, along with its creator and discover what this thing is and why that mammal made it."

I then said to the detective, "That's two totally different theories you got there, detective."

Howlstein shrugged and said, "You know as well as I do Officer Hopps that when confronted with the unknown, one shouldn't be afraid to embrace the many possibilities, to ultimately find the single truth."

I leaned back in my seat as I gazed up at the ceiling to only realize that he was indeed correct.

He then said, "Anyways, I must get these notes to our sketch artist. I assume the two of you need to finish your patrol for the day and head home, right?"

Nick stood up from his seat and stretched his back out. He yawned and said, "Yeah, the sooner the better. All that swimming today wiped me out."

The detective cocked his head at Nick and said, "Swimming?! You only said you chased this thing through the sewers. You mean you actually…?"

I then held up a paw towards the detective and said hastily, "Please!" I then slowed down and said, "Please don't ask."

Nick chuckled at my remark, which caused me to glare at him. When he saw this, he looked away quickly and pretended like he did nothing.

The detective seemed rather confused and unsettled by both or responses. He then said slowly, "O…kay. Well anyways, you two best get going. Have a good night."

We left his office and began to head back to our car to try to finish our patrol, which only had an hour left. As we walked through the building, I couldn't help but think that if what Howlstein said was right and that this creature was some natural living being that had a whole species of it, then it must be a member of an advanced species if it was capable of what we saw it do today. If this thing was this advanced, then it stands to reason that maybe we could try to find a way to better understand it. Through this understanding, maybe we could learn more about it and its goals. Heck, maybe finding this thing won't be so much of a hunt for a dangerous creature…but rather a quest to negotiate peace and cooperation with an advanced lifeform.

The pieces of this puzzle, this mystery, would start to fall in place soon…and it would change our very understanding of the world forever.

 **(A/N: Well here's the next chapter. I hope you all liked it and I'm pleased that I pumped this out so much sooner than expected. Let me know with a review how you all are liking this story so far, and where it needs improvement. I'm trying to avoid the usual "Human in Zootopia" formula that is witnessed so often on this achieve. Not that most of these stories are bad, it's just I wanted to do something different. As you will see, within the next three chapters, this story will take quite a turn from just a Human in Zootopia story, to something else quite different. One could say that it will be** _ **crossing**_ **the boundaries of a typical "Human in Zootopia" story than it has already done. I hope that you will enjoy this direction the story is heading and I wanted to also take the time to thank you all for nearly 2K views. This is the most ready story I have ever posted on here and a personal milestone of mine. I know that a story like this won't interest everyone, but I still think that's quite impressive. Also, don't worry, there will be WildeHopps starting to surface in the next few chapters, so that Romance tag wasn't just for the sake of it. Anyways, enough rambling like a broken record with dementia. Thanks again for reading and have a good day all.)**


	6. Rising Tensions

**Chapter 5: Rising Tensions**

 **(A/N: Hello once again fellow readers and writers. I'm pleased to have yet another chapter for you all to read, and I'm grateful for the positive feedback I've gotten with my story so far. Even though this story is not garnering too much attention, we're nearing 1.7K views as of me writing this sentence. That is more than any other story I have written before. Even though that number is smaller than much of the other stories on here that have had their view count publicized, every comment I've received (with the exception of my friendly neighborhood troll) has been a positive one. I'm pleased that so many of you are enjoying this story and a bit more of a fresh take on a "Human in Zootopia" story. Fair word of warning that the end of this chapter won't make much sense as of yet, but there will be a third side to enter this grand first meeting between worlds, and this new side is tied into the big surprise I have in store for this story. We're not at the point of revealing this huge surprise in the story yet, as that will come later in the next chapter. For now, I hope you enjoy this current chapter.)**

 **(Nate's Perspective; inside the warehouse)**

"Alright, I got the gear I need. Should be good to go…I hope" I said to myself as I had just finished putting together my expedition gear for tonight.

Since this was the first of my many presumable nights here, I unfortunately didn't have a lot in the way of equipment. I found that somebody had apparently dumped a slightly torn backpack out back behind the warehouse, sitting in a pile of garbage. The damage was noticeable on it, but it was still in a usable enough state for me to carry equipment in. I wasn't bringing anything with me beyond my two pistols and the Ether sword. My whole goal tonight was to survey my surrounding area and begin to try to get a lay of the land in the city. Due to the amount of artificial light in the city since it was now dark outside, I knew I would have to stick to the shadows. That is until it got much later in the evening. If this city operated like any other city in the Human Era, then there should be the least amount of animals about after midnight or 1 A.M. Until then, I would have to stick to the shadows, and if I found anything valuable along the way, I had my backpack. 

I slung the backpack that was empty over my shoulders and adjusted the straps to be able to get it to fit comfortably. It was clearly designed for an animal of a different size than me, so it took a bit to get the right size that worked for me.

I then started walking towards the front door of the building that I had barricaded shut with a wooden board to secure the place at night when I was "home". My footsteps echoed with padding sounds on the concrete as the echoing and eerily loud footsteps were only made a bit more unnerving by the fact that the only light in the warehouse was what came in through the windows from outside. I had to hand it to the building I stumbled into, it would take quite a while for the police to find this one specific warehouse to investigate, especially if I tried to make this building look as abandoned as possible, such as not turning on any lights at night. I knew this ruse wouldn't last forever, but it gave me hope that I could begin to study and learn about this strange new world while still surviving.

I reached the door and grasped the board that barricaded the door with both hands. I yanked upwards three times before the board came loose from the metal brackets that were already installed on the interior side of the door. The wood scraped and clattered against the door as I lifted it up. I set the board down gently to the ground with a dull clatter. I then said, "Alright, Chronos. How's the suits distributor doing?"

Chronos then said soon afterwards, "Power level is stabilized at 100 percent and ready to go, Nate."

I smiled under my visor as I was ready to take my first steps into the night air of the city. I opened the door with a slight metallic scape as the door grazed on its frame. The door opened inwards towards me as I peeked me head out the door and looked around. The perks of being in a warehouse on the edge of the ocean waters was that there weren't really any animals out and about immediately around me. A Polar Bear started walking towards my direction, which caused me to close the door slowly and almost completely. I glared out the crack of the ajar door as I watched the bear walk right by me, having not spotted me. I waited five seconds and opened the door again slowly and peered out, only to see no one else immediately about. I stepped out of the door and closed it shut quietly. I then looked around as the sounds of car horns and city life became louder to my ears. I took notice of an alleyway across the street as I then said, "Chronos, slow the time stream."

I then heard all the noises of city life die down to a slowed and unnatural tone as car horns lasted much longer and sounded deeper in tone. I told Chronos to slow the time stream rather than freeze it because he had explained to me that completely halting time drained the suits power distributor much more rapidly than just merely slowing the flow of time. When the only vehicles around me, once moving at 40 miles per hour, we now moving at less than 1 mile per hour, I took off in a mad sprint across the street and into the alleyway on the opposite side. When I reached the opposite side, I then said in a completely undisrupted tone of voice, "Chronos, free the time stream."

Instantly, sound returned once more to its normal pitch and tone to my ears. I ducked further down into the darkness and peered around the alleyway for anything that seemed of value. Scattered about the alleyway were abandoned boxes, trash, garbage cans, and a few dumpsters. I soon took notice of an antelope walking out of the back of a building carrying a box in his arms. The box had letters I was faintly able to make out on the sides of the box that ready, "Vegetable Soup, 12 pack." 

I was now stuck in a conundrum. I had no food in my shelter and here was an animal that was carrying a 12 case of vegetable soup. The survivalist in me was screaming at me to steal it from him, but the rational part of me didn't want to as I had no right to take out people's possessions. If it clearly had an owner, then that would make me a common thief. I felt it was stupid to day this however, as I wasn't stealing from another person, but a sentient anthropomorphic animal. Were the morals different as such? Would stealing from an animal still be a moral crime?

I was relieved when I saw him not heading towards my direction, but rather towards a car that was parked outside the opposite exit of the alley. I watched him walk away from me, when I took notice of a form start to make its way out of the darkness near him. It was a rhino wearing a black hoodie and grey sweatpants. He started to creep behind the antelope, following him. I naturally became weary of what was going on, so I started to follow the rhino myself. I kept to the shadows as I gazed at the rhino that reached into the back of his pants pocket and pulled out something all too familiar looking.

He had a handgun. Granted it was much bigger than something I would use, but there was no mistaking what it was. The rhino shuffled his feet on the concrete by accident and kicked an empty can, which the antelope must have heard, because he froze in an instant and didn't move.

"Who's th…" he said shakily.

The rhino then said in a gruff and gritty voice, "Don't turn around, or I'll waste yo ass."

The antelope began to shake slightly with fear as he then said, "yeah, sure. Whatever you say, man."

The rhino then said, "Good…now drop the fucking box and give me yo money."

The antelope then said, "Sir, I don't have any money. Just ple…" 

The rhino then walked up directly behind him and drove the gun barrel into the antelopes back and said, "Don't you lie to me you horn-headed fuck. How'd you get that Soup box without money then?"

I crept closer towards the rhino and took cover behind a dumpster that was near the two animals. I reached my right hand out in front of me and ejected my right pistol from my palm. I knew that this situation was going to get quite grave here soon.

The rhino then said, "Last chance, your money! NOW!"

The antelope must have been crying because he then said, "Please have mercy. I just spent the last I had on me buying food."

The rhino then said, "Pathetic. Should have had more…"

The rhino pulled the gun barrel from the back of the antelope and leveled it at the back of his head. I was watching the whole time and rolled out of cover at the imminent threat of execution that poor antelope was under. I raised my pistol and fired once at the rhino, the gun emitting a red ball of energy. The ball hit the rhino and immediately, his head I was aiming at and his upper shoulders exploded in a burst of blood and gore. I heard the antelope gasp and quiver as the rhino's corpse listed over to the right and hit the ground with a heavy thud. I peered at the antelope and saw that his entire back was covered in blood and organ matter from the rhino. He stayed frozen for several seconds before whispering, "What…?"

He looked at his arms and said to himself, "I'm not dead? Then what was that noise and why is my back…"

He immediately stopped talking as he turned around to see the half exploded corpse of the Rhino, to which he gagged and said, "Oh lamb above." He looked away in disgust and fear. He looked around for whatever had done this to the Rhino, but couldn't find the cause. This was because I had gone back behind the dumpster prior to him turning around. I was only able to just barely see his form as I peered around the dumpster. I felt like I should say something, but it might get me exposed. He looked around frantically when he couldn't see anyone and just dropped the box of soup and ran away screaming down the street. He must have really been frightened of what happened, but who could blame him. Between the attempted mugging and me exploding a rhinos head off of his body, I would run scared shitless as well.

I looked at the box of soup he had dropped and noticed that it looked damaged, but still intact. I ripped open the box to see 10 of the cans intact still, while the other two had ruptured. I decided to act fast before someone investigated why that antelope had run screaming. I grabbed the ten cans and crammed them into the backpack.

 _At least I got some food now…and it technically isn't stealing since I saved his life_ I thought as I tried to justify what I was doing.

With the cans in my backpack, I looked around the alley for another way out of here that didn't go the direction the antelope had run off to. I suddenly took notice of a yellow utility ladder that was attached to one of the buildings that formed this alleyway. It looked old and weathered, but it looked like it could support me. I ran over to it and started to climb up the ladder. I noticed that the ladder had different sized rungs spaced out apart as if to accommodate more a variety of animal sizes. The small rungs were positioned in between the larger rungs that were both comfortable and sized right for my own use. The ladder was clearly sized for small to medium sized animals, with me seeming to fit the medium size in this new world.

I finally reached the top of the building and climbed over the lip of the roof edge. I panted slightly from my exertion until I caught my breath. I looked around the rooftop to see nothing of particular interest up here. However, I decided that with the high ground, I should take a look from up here at the sights I can see and make a mental note of them for both tonight and for future expeditions. I crept in a crouched position towards the ledge of the building I was on and I peered over the lip of the building. Here I was awe struck by the beautiful sights of this alien looking city.

The building I was on was over 8 stories tall. Many of the surrounding buildings were as tall or even shorter in height compared to the rest of the buildings on the block. Over the visible buildings was the skyline of this metropolis, with skyscrapers easily 80 stories tall in the far distance. The surrounding visible skyscrapers all seemed to differ in architecture as they met up into a single focal point in the distance. I could only wonder what other fascinating treasures of sights that this city held for me. I gazed at spot lights in the distance pointing into the night sky, coupled with the beautiful vista of lights in the buildings at night that decorated and adorned the buildings like sparkling diamonds of light. If I wasn't in hostile territory on a mission of recon, I would almost think this sight made me feel like a tourist.

I snapped out of my gazing when I began to hear sirens in the distance, seeming to draw ever closer.

 _Oh fuck me again_ I thought in panic. I searched the roof top for a way to get away from here without being seen. If the police were on their way here, most likely from receiving a call from the Antelope whom I saved earlier, then I knew I had to cut my first expedition short this evening. I turned to run back towards the ladder I had come up before, when I found myself doing a double take and staring back out across the street.

On the sidewalk on the other side of the street was a parked van that belonged to a Cable T.V. company. It was parallel parked between two other calls across the street. I knew it would be a great place to be able to start with to find the tools I needed to finish my safe house. I looked back towards the ladder and then back towards the van a few times. I groaned in frustration over the dilemma I faced. I knew that if I tried to take the risk and search the van, I could be potentially spotted by either the cops or any nearby animals. I also knew that what I was thinking of doing was stealing. I felt my mind get heavy as I knew I would have to swallow my morals eventually if I ever wanted to acquire the resources I needed to survive, including the precious tools I needed to finish my remaining projects. I wouldn't always have luck like I had with the vegetable soup cans that the Antelope had dropped.

With a heavy groan, I decided to forgo searching the van in the spirit of safety and concealment. I could only hope it was still around here tomorrow. I ran towards the ladder and turned around to start climbing down it. I reached the bottom as fast as I could. I slipped on the ladder more than ¾ of the way down the ladder and tried to catch myself on the metal structure before I hit the ground.

I couldn't…

I felt myself fall about a story and a half and hit the concrete with a nice solid whack noise. I laid there dazed in a stupor from the pain and the impact for a little bit as my body cried for me to not move because it hurt too much.

I heard Chronos begin to cry out to me, "Nate, I know your hurting right now, but we got to move. Get up Nate!"

I tried to move my aching body to stand up and found myself to manage it. I assumed the only reason why I even survived that type of a fall was the protection this suit provided, but even that much force that much spread out on impact apparently was too much for the suit to protect me from the full force of.

I groaned out loud and said, "I know, Chronos. It hurts for fuck's sake."

I started painfully walking very stiffly towards the alley edge that led to the street where my safe house was on. I reached the edge of the alley and then said with a wincing noise, "Ah…Chronos, slow the time stream."

I almost immediately heard all sound around me slow down and die down to deep, drawn out versions of their normal pitches. I saw a car that had been driving towards the alley I was in and was somewhat close by when Chronos froze the time stream. It was only moving at about a mile and hour, but still I was afraid of being seen somehow. Regardless, I took off in as fast of a sprint as my aching body allowed me to be able to do. I reached the opposite end of the street and ducked behind a waste basket that was partly in the shadows.

I then said, "Chronos, release the time stream."

Sound once again returned to its normal pitch and tone as I quickly ran towards the warehouse door and pushed it open, making a little bit of a loud metallic whacking noise as I impacted the door to open it inwards. I mentally groaned at making the noise, but I got inside as fast as I could and closed the door behind me. I held off on barricading the door as my body was both aching and now in a panic if I had been seen at all by that driver of the car I ran so close by. I ran towards a nearby window that faced the street and peeked through the dirty glass as my fears were right. Soon after me getting in my safe house, two police cruisers pulled up along the road that my safe house was on. I saw officers get out of their vehicles with their weapons drawn as they carefully maneuvered into the alley where the dead rhino's half exploded body laid.

I mentally cursed as I had 4 cops literally now hanging out right across the street from my safe house. The emergency lights from their vehicles cast flashes of blue and red into the interior of the warehouse, which made me quite nervous about how well anyone outside could see in here now. I knew I had to find a way soon to block the windows in a none suspicious way. Without doing so, my whole operation in here could possibly be seen and compromised.

I said to myself, "Fucking damn me to hell" over the situation I was now in. I ducked away from the windows as I went back towards where my operation's center was. I grabbed my backpack and opened it up. I pulled out the 10 soup cans and transferred them gently into the wooden crate that I was using to store supplies. I then threw the backpack over towards the woodpile that would eventually become my bookshelf for any data and knowledge I gathered on this world. I ducked behind the wooden crate my supplies were in and sat down on the ground, my legs splayed outwards. I winced at the hardness of the floor as my still hurting body contacted it.

I remained here for a little bit, finding myself trapped in thought over when it might be safe to venture out again, or even if I could use the front door to leave again. I then heard Chronos say to me, "Nate, if it makes you feel any better, I did a check a quick scan of your body and my sensors aren't detecting any dangerous or permeant damage from your fall."

I shook my head slightly as I looked up at the ceiling, I then sighed and said, "Yeah, I guess that's a good thing."

I was trying to hide my frustration over my actions nearly compromising the location of my safe house from Chronos. I knew I had to save that poor Antelope; otherwise I would have been responsible for the loss of another innocent life due to my actions.

Clearly, I wasn't trying to hide my emotions well enough from Chronos, as he then said to me, "Nate, you did the right thing in saving that Antelope. So what if the police are hanging around here? There is no evidence to suggest that this warehouse is occupied by us."

I groaned and said quietly out of fear of anyone outside hearing me, "You don't think I don't know that, Chronos. The problem isn't what happened now; it's what might happen next time. This was way too damn close for comfort."

I became silent as my mind began to analyze how to limit the risks of these "expeditions" I was going to have to make. Chronos remained silent as well as if he was waiting for me to explain further, or maybe even offer a solution.

I thought quietly to myself as I tried to analyze what to do from any angle I could. I tried to contemplate the morality of saving people at my own risk, or if stealing was even something I should even consider as a crime here since technically no document says that I as Nate Robert exists in this world. Should survival come before civility? Morality? Honor?

The more I thought about it, the more aggravated and heavy my breathing was becoming as I felt myself become confronted with the ultimate dilemma and no way to be able to solve it…

Should I forgo my morals of the world of humanity to free myself of the restrictions in the challenge and goal of survival? Or should I continue to operate on the morality of the human world in a time now where humanity seems to be no more. Should these animals even deserve the mercy and mere thought of human principles?

I groaned as I began to cry softly. I was coming to the answer that I had no clue what to do here. The only logical solution remained to justify my next course of action…

 _I need to learn more about this world_ I thought in response to my own pondering.

I stood up from the cold hard ground as I wanted to go check to see if the police were still hanging around outside. I could still hear sirens outside, but these sounded like they were coming closer rather than leaving. In addition, the pitch of them was not reminiscent of the sound of the sirens from the police vehicles earlier. I could only wonder what else was coming.

As I walked across the dirty, cold and hard concrete floor, my mind was also deciding on another factor as well towards my own dilemma and battle in my mind.

 _Until I know more, until I can make an educated decision on how I should acquire what I need, based on practicality and morality, I have to blend into the shadows of this time. I had to walk as silent as an assassin scoping out his target in the dead of night. Until I know what to do, I can't endanger myself any more than absolutely necessary._

I felt myself mentally shudder at the ramifications my next thought could have on my own secrecy and life here.

… _Even if it means that others around me must die so that I can live, I'll do it. Hopefully, I myself will never have to one to do the killing, but if I run into the same type of situation that I did tonight with the antelope…I can't get involved_ I thought to myself in pure misfortune.

"Nate, are you alright? I'm detecting evidence of frustration, stress, and sadness in your nervous system" asked Chronos in concern?

I blinked several times as I stopped at the front windows of the warehouse to see what the police were doing outside. I leaned my body against the window gently so as to not damage the window itself more than it already was. I stared at the blinking emergency lights of the vehicles as they cast their bright blue and red light into the warehouse. Outside, I could see police trying to lock down the area so they could begin an investigation. I was glad it was the dead of night; otherwise it would be easy for them to spot me this close to the windows, especially if they were already looking for anything or anyone that was suspicious looking. The lights from the vehicles kept dancing around me as I then softly said, "No amount of training I ever did with Zhang could prepare me for this high of stakes."

I gazed above the buildings across the street at the distant skyline of Zootopia. I chuckled and then said, "I know how to operate in this type of situation, but this environment has so much at stake. Chronos, I can't even be seen outside by the denizens of this world. This is nowhere like in the old human world where I could strip out of my uniform and go undercover in the population of a city. We all looked alike, all behaved similarly enough that no one would even bother to think twice about me, or any member of FoS."

I gazed at my right arm as I held it in front of my vision. I manipulated it, looking all around it as I clenched and unclenched my hand. I did this for a few seconds as I said, "But here? Here I look nothing normal. Even if I didn't have this suit, I couldn't go masquerading around the city. I would be spotted in seconds. Here, I might as well be a monster, one that can't step foot in day light otherwise he'll die."

I thought back to my earlier years in FoS when I was being trained by Zhang. My training was based around guerilla warfare, deception, and survival in a _human_ world that had forgotten what the meaning of humanity was.

Here, I was in a world that didn't forget humanity, but rather forgot the human race.

I then said, "Chronos, for the first time in my life as a fighter…I don't know how to do this. I'm…lost."

Chronos paused for a bit as he had been listening to me. He continued to remain silent for a few more seconds, until he then said softly, "You're not lost Nate. I'm here with you, by your side every step of the way." He then paused and then said softly, "Nate, you like history right? Tell me then, how many times in history did people…nations…civilizations feel hopeless and lost when confronted by a gruesome challenge? Imagine the hardship that Abraham Lincoln must have felt being the President of the United States in a time when the country was divided so traumatically. Imagine the feeling he must have had knowing he was sending Americans to fight and kill fellow Americans in the name of unity between the two American countries of the time. Imagine the stress he must have had knowing that his presidency could keep the nation as one people united, or divide it forever.

Or imagine the peoples living in the Roman Empire at the time when the western half of the Empire fell to barbarians, the destruction of their training grounds, and the countless civil wars that were being fought. How terrified those who were alive at the end of the Empire must have been to witness the emerging dark ages. Imagine their fear and confusion.

Imagine the hardship that the Jewish people dealt with during the founding of the state of Israel. The Arab nations around them that wanted to destroy such a young nation before it could be truly established, all the hardship that was riding on a victory for the Israeli people. Even in the early 21st century, Israel was still under constant external threats.

I walked over towards where my makeshift bed was and laid down on the old mattress as I listened to Chronos speak.

He then said, "Look at what happened in all those situations. America remained united after the Civil War, Western Europe continued through the Dark Ages and into the Age of the Renaissance, and Israel survived several wars as the victor against nations that would have it so eagerly destroyed. Even in the hardest of times, life didn't simply stop…people didn't give up…time moved on and people persevered and came out at the end stronger. Each human holds their own personal history, a history that is shaped by their actions and inactions, so Nate…what will you do with your own history? What do you choose? Give up in the face of adversity, or stand strong and move on harder and tougher?"

I was amazed by the almost human-like traits of comfort and logical analysis that Chronos displayed. I had to wonder how he knew I liked history so much, but my mind realized that he was indeed correct. I shouldn't give up so easily, I shouldn't think that I can't find a way to survive despite such a huge challenge.

I sighed and said in admittance, "I don't plan on just lying down and dying Chronos, but I feel so…"

"…lost? Well, you shouldn't Nate. I got your back, and I promise that we will get through this and find a way back to the Human Era" said Chronos.

I smirked under my helmet and said, "Thanks for the pep talk, Chronos."

"Your welcome" he replied simply.

I saw the police lights outside continue to flash light into the warehouse as I felt my stomach rumble and hurt. I guess I hadn't eaten anything in a quite a while.

I went to grab a can of soup out of my storage crate as I knew I had to plan my next move here for trying to get to that cable van tomorrow…if it was still there.

 **(Meanwhile at Judy's apartment is Savanna Central; Judy's perspective)**

I paced back and forth in my small apartment as Nick and I were trying to wrap our heads around further around the mystery of this mysterious and elusive creature that we had run into today. Nick had come over to my apartment after work to sit down and think this through. Nick had his laptop sitting on my bed as he sat cross-legged on my bed, searching the internet about any other sightings of this mysterious being. He thought that regardless if this thing was able to disappear from sight, that surely somebody else in Zootopia had seen this creature and reported about it. Nick spent the last 30 minutes searching on popular social media sites to see if anybody posted any photos, posts, and tweets about this thing. The results, much to Nick's dismay, came up empty pawed. Nick groaned loudly as he rubbed his eyes with his right paw. I gazed at him from where I had stopped pacing when I heard him groan and could tell he was very frustrated and tired.

Nick then said to me, "Carrots, rather than trying to dig a trench with your pacing, do you want to lend me a hand here? I have no fucking clue where to look anymore."

I know that he was implying that I should be helping him to find out more about this creature, but my mind was stuck in overdrive as I tried to piece the events of today, what the creature said, did, and acted, together in my mind. Plus, the fact that I had a triple expresso so I could stay up with Nick to work on this little case of ours didn't help in the slightest. It made me wide awake, but I couldn't sit still either.

"I'm sorry Nick, I know I should be doing more to help you, but I don't know where else to start you haven't already checked. It's like we are some of the very few mammals to see this creature before. After today, do you still think this thing is dangerous and…" I rambled on and on at a fast pace, the caffeine pushing my body into overdrive.

Nick waved his paws in front of him as he then said, "Woah, woah there Carrots. Bring it down a few miles so I can at least say something."

I scratched my chin and then my right ear, which was dropped behind my back as I then grabbed it and started rubbing it. "Sorry, Nick" I said simply.

Nick smiled slightly and said, "What do you say now, Judy?"

I gave him a curious look as I tapped my right foot rapidly in place. He could tell that I was clueless right now about what he meant.

Nick rolled his eyes playfully and said, "Maybe you should say, 'Oh Nick, you were right. It was a horrible idea to have a triple expresso at midnight. I'll listen to what you have to say next time.'" Nick spoke this in a mimicking tone.

I scratched my arm rapidly as I then said, "You were right" in a sullen tone, as I looked away from him.

Nick chuckled at my caffeine craze I was in right now as he went back to looking through the internet to see what was out there.

I took a deep breath and let it out as I tried to relax myself from my stupidity of the expresso I drank. I decided to try to sit down in the chair by my desk and start to look on my cell phone's internet for anything as well. My foot still kept tapping like crazy as I did this.

After loading up the first news website I knew of for reliable information, I glanced over at Nick and observed him on my bed. His digits were periodically tapping at the laptop keyboard as his eyes were glued to the screen. I gave him a look over as I felt my caffeine saturated mind begin to drift to another topic.

Nick and I have always been good friends since we took down Bellwether. We hung out with each other, shared laughs, stories, and obviously worked together. The longer I spent time with him, the more I realized how different he is compared to the fox I first dealt with on the nighthowler case. Nick was used to putting up facades to prevent people from getting into his mind. His old saying of, 'never let them see they get to you' came to mind again. However, after time when he finally started to let me in deeper into his life and mind, I began to realize just what a special mammal he is. He was funny, witty, intelligent, clever, and kind. He made me feel…happy spending time with him. I knew that that was certain, but yet, part of me thought that there was some other reason why I took a liking to Nick since the Nighthowler case. He's such a good friend, but the other reason was unclear to me. I felt I missed him greatly when we weren't hanging out together, so could that be a sign of great friendship…or something a bit…more.

I kept glancing at Nick as if my examining him was going to somehow magically give me answers.

Nick glanced towards his watch and looked back at the screen. He then looked up towards where I was and was about to look back towards the screen, when he did a double take slowly and then said, "Carrots, you feeling alright?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and then said, "Yeah, I'm okay. Why?"

He then pointed at me and said, "You've been playing with your right ear for the last 5 minutes, staring at me. Is something wrong?"

I felt my eyes go wide as I looked away for a second, ceasing my involuntary playing with my ear. I then said, "Nothing's wrong Nick." I managed a smile to try to convince him I was fine. My heart felt like it was racing a mile a minute as I was caught off guard by him noticing me, but the fact that I hadn't kept it as inconspicuous as I thought.

He then said, "Uh…huh" in a somewhat unbelieving tone. He then went back to his laptop as I let out a small breath I had held in.

 _Why did I just behave like that_ I thought to myself? _Was I actually starting to…like like Nick?_

I also felt the need to dismiss this as well as an option as much as I realized it could be one. The reason for this was that I knew I was very near the time my heat cycle would begin. So either this meant that I was possibly already in heat and only liked Nick cause he was a male, or that I wasn't in heat, which meant that I was _really_ starting to think a lot more about Nick. I went back to looking at my phone as I knew that the ramifications of me starting to like like Nick when I go into heat, if I'm not already in heat, could be regretful if I didn't keep my…urges in check.

I decided that, against my own unsure feelings I had for Nick, that it would be for the best if I try not to dwell on those thoughts of him and keep myself in a purely platonic zone with Nick right now, at least for the next couple of weeks, just to make sure my heat cycle would be over.

I mentally groaned as I knew this would not be an easy task for a rabbit, especially since my own heat cycle makes me feel weird and makes me want to fuck anyone I remotely like with male anatomy.

We spent about ten minutes in silence as the only sounds in the room were Nick typing on the keyboard periodically, and me tapping the virtual keyboard on my phone. Next door, I could hear talking from my loud and annoying neighbors, Bucky and Pronk. Outside, I could hear the noises of the night scene of the city.

Nick clicked on something using his mouse pad. He must have only looked at it for a few seconds before he then shouted, "Judy?!"

I nearly jumped out of my chair and fell to the ground from the surprise. I panted slightly and said angrily to Nick, "For goodness sake, Nick. Don't give me a heart attack like that."

Nick was looking at me as his ears flattened a bit and he rubbed the back of his neck, clearly sorry. He then said, "I apologize, Carrots. But you got to see this post on Furrbook."

I scrambled off my chair and jumped onto the bed, landing next to Nick and nearly knocking him over. He then said, "I found some family posting on Furrbook that their son and his friend recorded footage of a strange creature or figure. They said that they showed the footage to ZNN, but the ZNN wasn't going to run it. They said it looked too 'unreal'. However, several mammals responded to this exact post Judy, saying they had a run in with the creature in the rainforest district."

"At least this proves we are…" Nick began, only for me to hug him tightly from the side. He froze when I touched him as I hugged him in gratitude for finding the next big break we needed with this mystery.

Nick then said quite surprised and curious, "What's with the sudden embrace, Carrots? You wanting to get close to your favorite mammal?"

I held him tightly as I said, "No…I mean yes…I mean, not that. Just…Thank you Nick."

He then put his left arm around my back and said curiously, "For what, Carrots?"

I felt myself involuntarily rubbing the side of my head on his shirt as I had my eyes closed. I then said, "For finding our next lead. I know the forensic team and the detectives can handle this, but to have a lead for us to be able to follow of our very own…just…"

I paused as I kept rubbing my head on his shirt.

"Thank you" I finished.

Nick smiled and rubbed my back. He then said, "eh, no problem Judy. That's what partners and friends are for, right?"

I paused what I was doing as my eyes opened wide when he spoke.

 _Partners…_ I thought.

I only now realized that I was maybe showing a little too much affection for what Nick did. I mean sure he gave us a huge lead, but I had to keep the thoughts I had for him secret until after my heat cycle.

Also, I only now realized a big fear and issue that these thoughts could have for the two of us…

Not only is fraternization frowned upon and restricted in the ZPD, but if I were to move on with my feelings even after my heat cycle, I could ruin our very friendship if Nick…didn't like me back.

I let go of him quickly and got off the bed. I rubbed my left arm quickly and looked away from Nick, who seemed quite dumbstruck by my actions.

It took quite a bit of my willpower to finally say, "I'm sorry Nick if that got…weird for you. I was only trying to than…"

Nick shut his laptop closed as he got off the bed and came over to me. He grabbed me and pulled me in for a hug of his own. He rubbed my back as he then said, "Don't worry Carrots, I get it. You're tired, hopped up on caffeine, happy for our find, and we had an insane day today. You're all good."

I looked up at him as he smiled at me. I gazed into his eyes for a second, only to find myself look away as I embraced him back.

Nick then said, "Since we both have tomorrow off, you want to pay this family a visit?"

I smiled as I looked up at him, bouncing slightly in place as I then said, "I never thought you'd ask…partner."

 **(Meanwhile, unknown location, unknown perspective)**

 **Meanwhile, far away from Zootopia, out in the bay that extended to the ocean beyond Zootopia's nautical boundaries, everything seemed quiet and peaceful on the rolling waters. Beneath the water's surface, fish and aquatic creatures swam about their business as they normally would. Traveling far beneath the surface, light fading from the sun as darkness grew and enveloped the abyss of this deep expanse of water, there lay scattered metallic remains on the ocean floor. This metal was covered in algae and barnacles, but yet the black inky surface of the metal appeared to be only mildly corroded, a strange orange rust covering sparse areas of the metal. Lying near the wrecked metal fragments lay bigger chunks of metal. This metal had linear and geometric designs to it, as well as a nearly eroded Vanguard insignia; in addition, the metal chunks seemed to belong to something much bigger than what the remains of these metallic shards suggested. Lying about half a mile away from these metal chunks and fragments lay a white solid metal form, massive in scale. The damaged form easily a mile long, including the damaged and removed fragments of metal from it. The metal shape was half buried in the sea floor, only one side of it visible up in the water. The visible side revealed a half sloped back shape that extended towards the rear of the form until a metal wing extended off the side and up in the water, the metal curving forwards in almost a scythe shaped structure. The lack of corrosion on the surface of this form suggested that this structure was built to be able to easily withstand the pressure, temperature, and the erosion of the water, much like the metal fragments and forms that were black surrounding it. The white metal form had a hexagonal design to the metal, a pattern of honeycomb style hexagons much like that in a beehive. The metal form creaked and groaned slightly in the shifting tide of the water. Meanwhile, inside the structure, darkened and dusty hallways and rooms lay abandoned inside the structure. The structure of the rooms and hallways were hexagonal shaped as well, the rooms forming hexagonal chambers, with the chambers had unusual machines, furniture, and lighting in them. The chairs, tables, and other furnishings looked like they could be used by humans, but not comfortably. In the center of the structure was a single massive chamber, with a huge central mainframe built in the middle. The room was dark and lifeless, untouched for what seemed like millennia. Suddenly, a holographic panel of the mainframe flickered a few times and went out. A few seconds passed, until the screen flickered again and remained on, fuzzy in resolution. The screen was a green tint and remained there empty, until random characters, appearing as if taken from multiple languages, flashed and changed rapidly on lines in the screen.**

"Brothers and Siste…what is going on" it read on the first line as the letters choose a particular language finally?

"Have we been in the Aracxt for this long" asked the next line?

Suddenly, another panel flickered online near the first as it said, "It would appear to be so, Acrolite Xero."

The first panel then had another line choose the same particular language being used and it said, "Have the dissidents died out yet?"

The second panel then said, "Certainty unknown, it had been thousands of years since we entered the Aracxt, and the humans have entered the Dream once more."

The first panel then said, "Admiral, you know they are no longer human, but are so much more than those on this world were."

The first panel then said, "If the dissidents have not died out, then why did the A.I. bring us out of the Aracxt and into the Collective sphere if not due to their death?"

A third panel then appeared on the mainframe as a line then read, "Admiral Ginvruk, as your XO, it is wise of me to suggest that we must learn more about the former human world. We must discover what became of the dissidents, they have indeed died out?"

"Silence, Forui" said the second panel to the third. "We must not let the dissidents know that we have weathered time unchanging in the Aracxt. Doing so may yield horrible consequences."

The first panel then said, "Unless the Devo weapon worked. It was made to target the forms they so choose."

A fourth panel popped up and said, "It was certain to succeed where we had failed." 

The first panel then said, "Wait, brothers and sisters, do you feel that?"

The first lit panel then responded with an acknowledgement of agreement, "Why yes…it is one of ours. But…is it beyond the Aracxt?"

"I feel it too, but how can this be" asked the second panel?

The third panel then said, "I thought we were certain that our people left after the humans…"

The third panel then said, "Admiral, we must know more. We need to send one of the Operators to investigate, perhaps the Lotus would…"

The second panel then said, "She is asleep with the Operators, we can't awake her. You know this Forui."

The panel then had another line read, "But perhaps an Operator investigating would be a reasonable thing if one of ours is out there."

The first panel then said, "Shall we one with the metal frame of fire, or earth, maybe sound…?"

The second panel then said, "We will send the frame of electricity…the Operator can use its fast speed and electrical defense and offense to run, hide, or slaughter all who it needs to." It then paused and said, "And if the dissidents are still alive, the electricity is sure to fry their mangy pelts."

The second panel then said, "For the Hive, we serve with continuity."

The other lit panels then said, "We serve with continuity, for the Hive."

 **(A/N: That is it for this current chapter. I know that this last part was terribly confusing, but with it, we are no getting closer to the truth about what happened to humanity and the Earth, where the mammalkind of Zootopia actually came from, and how both the past, present, and future all come to shape this story. The next chapter will include the final reveal of the biggest surprise and secret I have for this story. I hope that some of you may have a guess as to what this surprise is already, but if not, I completely understand. I hope you all enjoyed reading this story so far and let me know what you thought of this chapter, the ending, and my first foray in WildeHopps for this story. Until next time, stay safe and creative everyone.)**

 **(A/N 10-4-17: After reading my previous chapters I have posted for this story, I have taken note of multiple spelling errors, grammatical errors, and even missing words. My goal of writing this story was to do a Human in Zootopia story that was different from many of the others, and to create something truly unique, which you will soon see in the next chapter. With this in mind, new chapters for this story will temporarily not be released until I have gone back and checked for spelling, grammatical, and missing word errors. I hope that you readers and writers are not disappointed with this decision. This stems from the fact that I want to be proud of what I have made, and it is hard to when you see so many glaring errors reflected back at you in your writing. I am also going to be re-writing the last scene in this chapter as I feel that the unknown location; unknown perspective scene was not my best work. All in all, these corrections should not take more than a few days to settle out, and then the next chapter will be in the works for later this month if possible. Once again, I hope you all are not too upset over this decision, but I feel this is for the best for this story. Believe me; I'm kicking myself in the pants for how many errors slipped past me. Until next time, stay safe and creative fellow readers and writers.)**


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